Local synchronization of a complex network model.

PubMed

Yu, Wenwu; Cao, Jinde; Chen, Guanrong; Lü, Jinhu; Han, Jian; Wei, Wei

2009-02-01

This paper introduces a novel complex network model to evaluate the reputation of virtual organizations. By using the Lyapunov function and linear matrix inequality approaches, the local synchronization of the proposed model is further investigated. Here, the local synchronization is defined by the inner synchronization within a group which does not mean the synchronization between different groups. Moreover, several sufficient conditions are derived to ensure the local synchronization of the proposed network model. Finally, several representative examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods and theories.

Effects of different dispersal patterns on the presence-absence of multiple species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohd, Mohd Hafiz; Murray, Rua; Plank, Michael J.; Godsoe, William

2018-03-01

Predicting which species will be present (or absent) across a geographical region remains one of the key problems in ecology. Numerous studies have suggested several ecological factors that can determine species presence-absence: environmental factors (i.e. abiotic environments), interactions among species (i.e. biotic interactions) and dispersal process. While various ecological factors have been considered, less attention has been given to the problem of understanding how different dispersal patterns, in interaction with other factors, shape community assembly in the presence of priority effects (i.e. where relative initial abundances determine the long-term presence-absence of each species). By employing both local and non-local dispersal models, we investigate the consequences of different dispersal patterns on the occurrence of priority effects and coexistence in multi-species communities. In the case of non-local, but short-range dispersal, we observe agreement with the predictions of local models for weak and medium dispersal strength, but disagreement for relatively strong dispersal levels. Our analysis shows the existence of a threshold value in dispersal strength (i.e. saddle-node bifurcation) above which priority effects disappear. These results also reveal a co-dimension 2 point, corresponding to a degenerate transcritical bifurcation: at this point, the transcritical bifurcation changes from subcritical to supercritical with corresponding creation of a saddle-node bifurcation curve. We observe further contrasting effects of non-local dispersal as dispersal distance changes: while very long-range dispersal can lead to species extinctions, intermediate-range dispersal can permit more outcomes with multi-species coexistence than short-range dispersal (or purely local dispersal). Overall, our results show that priority effects are more pronounced in the non-local dispersal models than in the local dispersal models. Taken together, our findings highlight the profound delicacy in the mediation of priority effects by dispersal processes: ;big steps; can have more influence than many ;small steps;.

Improved non-local electron thermal transport model for two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Duc; Moses, Gregory; Delettrez, Jacques

2015-08-01

An implicit, non-local thermal conduction algorithm based on the algorithm developed by Schurtz, Nicolai, and Busquet (SNB) [Schurtz et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 4238 (2000)] for non-local electron transport is presented and has been implemented in the radiation-hydrodynamics code DRACO. To study the model's effect on DRACO's predictive capability, simulations of shot 60 303 from OMEGA are completed using the iSNB model, and the computed shock speed vs. time is compared to experiment. Temperature outputs from the iSNB model are compared with the non-local transport model of Goncharov et al. [Phys. Plasmas 13, 012702 (2006)]. Effects on adiabat are also examined in a polar drive surrogate simulation. Results show that the iSNB model is not only capable of flux-limitation but also preheat prediction while remaining numerically robust and sacrificing little computational speed. Additionally, the results provide strong incentive to further modify key parameters within the SNB theory, namely, the newly introduced non-local mean free path. This research was supported by the Laboratory for Laser Energetics of the University of Rochester.

Nonlinear effects of locally heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields on regional stream-aquifer exchanges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, J.; Winter, C. L.; Wang, Z.

2015-08-01

Computational experiments are performed to evaluate the effects of locally heterogeneous conductivity fields on regional exchanges of water between stream and aquifer systems in the Middle Heihe River Basin (MHRB) of northwestern China. The effects are found to be nonlinear in the sense that simulated discharges from aquifers to streams are systematically lower than discharges produced by a base model parameterized with relatively coarse effective conductivity. A similar, but weaker, effect is observed for stream leakage. The study is organized around three hypotheses: (H1) small-scale spatial variations of conductivity significantly affect regional exchanges of water between streams and aquifers in river basins, (H2) aggregating small-scale heterogeneities into regional effective parameters systematically biases estimates of stream-aquifer exchanges, and (H3) the biases result from slow-paths in groundwater flow that emerge due to small-scale heterogeneities. The hypotheses are evaluated by comparing stream-aquifer fluxes produced by the base model to fluxes simulated using realizations of the MHRB characterized by local (grid-scale) heterogeneity. Levels of local heterogeneity are manipulated as control variables by adjusting coefficients of variation. All models are implemented using the MODFLOW simulation environment, and the PEST tool is used to calibrate effective conductivities defined over 16 zones within the MHRB. The effective parameters are also used as expected values to develop log-normally distributed conductivity (K) fields on local grid scales. Stream-aquifer exchanges are simulated with K fields at both scales and then compared. Results show that the effects of small-scale heterogeneities significantly influence exchanges with simulations based on local-scale heterogeneities always producing discharges that are less than those produced by the base model. Although aquifer heterogeneities are uncorrelated at local scales, they appear to induce coherent slow-paths in groundwater fluxes that in turn reduce aquifer-stream exchanges. Since surface water-groundwater exchanges are critical hydrologic processes in basin-scale water budgets, these results also have implications for water resources management.

Local cooling and warming effects of forests based on satellite observations.

PubMed

Li, Yan; Zhao, Maosheng; Motesharrei, Safa; Mu, Qiaozhen; Kalnay, Eugenia; Li, Shuangcheng

2015-03-31

The biophysical effects of forests on climate have been extensively studied with climate models. However, models cannot accurately reproduce local climate effects due to their coarse spatial resolution and uncertainties, and field observations are valuable but often insufficient due to their limited coverage. Here we present new evidence acquired from global satellite data to analyse the biophysical effects of forests on local climate. Results show that tropical forests have a strong cooling effect throughout the year; temperate forests show moderate cooling in summer and moderate warming in winter with net cooling annually; and boreal forests have strong warming in winter and moderate cooling in summer with net warming annually. The spatiotemporal cooling or warming effects are mainly driven by the two competing biophysical effects, evapotranspiration and albedo, which in turn are strongly influenced by rainfall and snow. Implications of our satellite-based study could be useful for informing local forestry policies.

Local cooling and warming effects of forests based on satellite observations

PubMed Central

Li, Yan; Zhao, Maosheng; Motesharrei, Safa; Mu, Qiaozhen; Kalnay, Eugenia; Li, Shuangcheng

2015-01-01

The biophysical effects of forests on climate have been extensively studied with climate models. However, models cannot accurately reproduce local climate effects due to their coarse spatial resolution and uncertainties, and field observations are valuable but often insufficient due to their limited coverage. Here we present new evidence acquired from global satellite data to analyse the biophysical effects of forests on local climate. Results show that tropical forests have a strong cooling effect throughout the year; temperate forests show moderate cooling in summer and moderate warming in winter with net cooling annually; and boreal forests have strong warming in winter and moderate cooling in summer with net warming annually. The spatiotemporal cooling or warming effects are mainly driven by the two competing biophysical effects, evapotranspiration and albedo, which in turn are strongly influenced by rainfall and snow. Implications of our satellite-based study could be useful for informing local forestry policies. PMID:25824529

Nonlinear effects of locally heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields on regional stream-aquifer exchanges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, J.; Winter, C. L.; Wang, Z.

2015-11-01

Computational experiments are performed to evaluate the effects of locally heterogeneous conductivity fields on regional exchanges of water between stream and aquifer systems in the Middle Heihe River basin (MHRB) of northwestern China. The effects are found to be nonlinear in the sense that simulated discharges from aquifers to streams are systematically lower than discharges produced by a base model parameterized with relatively coarse effective conductivity. A similar, but weaker, effect is observed for stream leakage. The study is organized around three hypotheses: (H1) small-scale spatial variations of conductivity significantly affect regional exchanges of water between streams and aquifers in river basins, (H2) aggregating small-scale heterogeneities into regional effective parameters systematically biases estimates of stream-aquifer exchanges, and (H3) the biases result from slow paths in groundwater flow that emerge due to small-scale heterogeneities. The hypotheses are evaluated by comparing stream-aquifer fluxes produced by the base model to fluxes simulated using realizations of the MHRB characterized by local (grid-scale) heterogeneity. Levels of local heterogeneity are manipulated as control variables by adjusting coefficients of variation. All models are implemented using the MODFLOW (Modular Three-dimensional Finite-difference Groundwater Flow Model) simulation environment, and the PEST (parameter estimation) tool is used to calibrate effective conductivities defined over 16 zones within the MHRB. The effective parameters are also used as expected values to develop lognormally distributed conductivity (K) fields on local grid scales. Stream-aquifer exchanges are simulated with K fields at both scales and then compared. Results show that the effects of small-scale heterogeneities significantly influence exchanges with simulations based on local-scale heterogeneities always producing discharges that are less than those produced by the base model. Although aquifer heterogeneities are uncorrelated at local scales, they appear to induce coherent slow paths in groundwater fluxes that in turn reduce aquifer-stream exchanges. Since surface water-groundwater exchanges are critical hydrologic processes in basin-scale water budgets, these results also have implications for water resources management.

Density matrix modeling of quantum cascade lasers without an artificially localized basis: A generalized scattering approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Andrew; Burnett, Benjamin A.; Chui, Chi On; Williams, Benjamin S.

2017-08-01

We derive a density matrix (DM) theory for quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) that describes the influence of scattering on coherences through a generalized scattering superoperator. The theory enables quantitative modeling of QCLs, including localization and tunneling effects, using the well-defined energy eigenstates rather than the ad hoc localized basis states required by most previous DM models. Our microscopic approach to scattering also eliminates the need for phenomenological transition or dephasing rates. We discuss the physical interpretation and numerical implementation of the theory, presenting sets of both energy-resolved and thermally averaged equations, which can be used for detailed or compact device modeling. We illustrate the theory's applications by simulating a high performance resonant-phonon terahertz (THz) QCL design, which cannot be easily or accurately modeled using conventional DM methods. We show that the theory's inclusion of coherences is crucial for describing localization and tunneling effects consistent with experiment.

Effect of EEG electrode density on dipole localization accuracy using two realistically shaped skull resistivity models.

PubMed

Laarne, P H; Tenhunen-Eskelinen, M L; Hyttinen, J K; Eskola, H J

2000-01-01

The effect of number of EEG electrodes on the dipole localization was studied by comparing the results obtained using the 10-20 and 10-10 electrode systems. Two anatomically detailed models with resistivity values of 177.6 omega m and 67.0 omega m for the skull were applied. Simulated potential values generated by current dipoles were applied to different combinations of the volume conductors and electrode systems. High and low resistivity models differed slightly in favour of the lower skull resistivity model when dipole localization was based on noiseless data. The localization errors were approximately three times larger using low resistivity model for generating the potentials, but applying high resistivity model for the inverse solution. The difference between the two electrode systems was minor in favour of the 10-10 electrode system when simulated, noiseless potentials were used. In the presence of noise the dipole localization algorithm operated more accurately using the denser electrode system. In conclusion, increasing the number of recording electrodes seems to improve the localization accuracy in the presence of noise. The absolute skull resistivity value also affects the accuracy, but using an incorrect value in modelling calculations seems to be the most serious source of error.

Assessing Local Model Adequacy in Bayesian Hierarchical Models Using the Partitioned Deviance Information Criterion

PubMed Central

Wheeler, David C.; Hickson, DeMarc A.; Waller, Lance A.

2010-01-01

Many diagnostic tools and goodness-of-fit measures, such as the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian deviance information criterion (DIC), are available to evaluate the overall adequacy of linear regression models. In addition, visually assessing adequacy in models has become an essential part of any regression analysis. In this paper, we focus on a spatial consideration of the local DIC measure for model selection and goodness-of-fit evaluation. We use a partitioning of the DIC into the local DIC, leverage, and deviance residuals to assess local model fit and influence for both individual observations and groups of observations in a Bayesian framework. We use visualization of the local DIC and differences in local DIC between models to assist in model selection and to visualize the global and local impacts of adding covariates or model parameters. We demonstrate the utility of the local DIC in assessing model adequacy using HIV prevalence data from pregnant women in the Butare province of Rwanda during 1989-1993 using a range of linear model specifications, from global effects only to spatially varying coefficient models, and a set of covariates related to sexual behavior. Results of applying the diagnostic visualization approach include more refined model selection and greater understanding of the models as applied to the data. PMID:21243121

3D model retrieval method based on mesh segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Yuanchao; Tang, Yan; Zhang, Qingchen

2012-04-01

In the process of feature description and extraction, current 3D model retrieval algorithms focus on the global features of 3D models but ignore the combination of global and local features of the model. For this reason, they show less effective performance to the models with similar global shape and different local shape. This paper proposes a novel algorithm for 3D model retrieval based on mesh segmentation. The key idea is to exact the structure feature and the local shape feature of 3D models, and then to compares the similarities of the two characteristics and the total similarity between the models. A system that realizes this approach was built and tested on a database of 200 objects and achieves expected results. The results show that the proposed algorithm improves the precision and the recall rate effectively.

Chapter 7: Developing climate-informed state-and-transition models

Treesearch

Miles A. Hemstrom; Jessica E. Halofsky; David R. Conklin; Joshua S. Halofsky; Dominique Bachelet; Becky K. Kerns

2014-01-01

Land managers and others need ways to understand the potential effects of climate change on local vegetation types and how management activities might be impacted by climate change. To date, climate change impact models have not included localized vegetation communities or the integrated effects of vegetation development dynamics, natural disturbances, and management...

LES Modeling of Lateral Dispersion in the Ocean on Scales of 10 m to 10 km

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-20

ocean on scales of 0.1-10 km that can be implemented in larger-scale ocean models. These parameterizations will incorporate the effects of local...ocean on scales of 0.1-10 km that can be implemented in larger-scale ocean models. These parameterizations will incorporate the effects of local...www.fields.utoronto.ca/video-archive/static/2013/06/166-1766/mergedvideo.ogv) and at the Nonlinear Effects in Internal Waves Conference held at Cornell University

Characterizing Time Irreversibility in Disordered Fermionic Systems by the Effect of Local Perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vardhan, Shreya; De Tomasi, Giuseppe; Heyl, Markus; Heller, Eric J.; Pollmann, Frank

2017-07-01

We study the effects of local perturbations on the dynamics of disordered fermionic systems in order to characterize time irreversibility. We focus on three different systems: the noninteracting Anderson and Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) models and the interacting spinless disordered t -V chain. First, we consider the effect on the full many-body wave functions by measuring the Loschmidt echo (LE). We show that in the extended or ergodic phase the LE decays exponentially fast with time, while in the localized phase the decay is algebraic. We demonstrate that the exponent of the decay of the LE in the localized phase diverges proportionally to the single-particle localization length as we approach the metal-insulator transition in the AAH model. Second, we probe different phases of disordered systems by studying the time expectation value of local observables evolved with two Hamiltonians that differ by a spatially local perturbation. Remarkably, we find that many-body localized systems could lose memory of the initial state in the long-time limit, in contrast to the noninteracting localized phase where some memory is always preserved.

A Robust Wireless Sensor Network Localization Algorithm in Mixed LOS/NLOS Scenario.

PubMed

Li, Bing; Cui, Wei; Wang, Bin

2015-09-16

Localization algorithms based on received signal strength indication (RSSI) are widely used in the field of target localization due to its advantages of convenient application and independent from hardware devices. Unfortunately, the RSSI values are susceptible to fluctuate under the influence of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) in indoor space. Existing algorithms often produce unreliable estimated distances, leading to low accuracy and low effectiveness in indoor target localization. Moreover, these approaches require extra prior knowledge about the propagation model. As such, we focus on the problem of localization in mixed LOS/NLOS scenario and propose a novel localization algorithm: Gaussian mixed model based non-metric Multidimensional (GMDS). In GMDS, the RSSI is estimated using a Gaussian mixed model (GMM). The dissimilarity matrix is built to generate relative coordinates of nodes by a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) approach. Finally, based on the anchor nodes' actual coordinates and target's relative coordinates, the target's actual coordinates can be computed via coordinate transformation. Our algorithm could perform localization estimation well without being provided with prior knowledge. The experimental verification shows that GMDS effectively reduces NLOS error and is of higher accuracy in indoor mixed LOS/NLOS localization and still remains effective when we extend single NLOS to multiple NLOS.

A Study of Strain Rate Effects for Turbulent Premixed Flames with Application to LES of a Gas Turbine Combustor Model

DOE PAGES

Kemenov, Konstantin A.; Calhoon, William H.

2015-03-24

Large-scale strain rate field, a resolved quantity which is easily computable in large-eddy simulations (LES), could have profound effects on the premixed flame properties by altering the turbulent flame speed and inducing local extinction. The role of the resolved strain rate has been investigated in a posterior LES study of GE lean premixed dry low NOx emissions LM6000 gas turbine combustor model. A novel approach which is based on the coupling of the lineareddy model with a one-dimensional counter-flow solver has been applied to obtain the parameterizations of the resolved premixed flame properties in terms of the reactive progress variable,more » the local strain rate measure, and local Reynolds and Karlovitz numbers. The strain rate effects have been analyzed by comparing LES statistics for several models of the turbulent flame speed, i.e, with and without accounting for the local strain rate effects, with available experimental data. The sensitivity of the simulation results to the inflow velocity conditions as well as the grid resolution have been also studied. Overall, the results suggest the necessity to represent the strain rate effects accurately in order to improve LES modeling of the turbulent flame speed.« less

A deformation-formulated micromechanics model of the effective Young's modulus and strength of laminated composites containing local ply curvature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Jong-Won; Harris, Charles E.

1990-01-01

A mathematical model based on the Euler-Bermoulli beam theory is proposed for predicting the effective Young's moduli of piecewise isotropic composite laminates with local ply curvatures in the main load-carrying layers. Strains in corrugated layers, in-phase layers, and out-of-phase layers are predicted for various geometries and material configurations by assuming matrix layers as elastic foundations of different spring constants. The effective Young's moduli measured from corrugated aluminum specimens and aluminum/epoxy specimens with in-phase and out-of-phase wavy patterns coincide very well with the model predictions. Moire fringe analysis of an in-phase specimen and an out-of-phase specimen are also presented, confirming the main assumption of the model related to the elastic constraint due to the matrix layers. The present model is also compared with the experimental results and other models, including the microbuckling models, published in the literature. The results of the present study show that even a very small-scale local ply curvature produces a noticeable effect on the mechanical constitutive behavior of a laminated composite.

Modeling abundance effects in distance sampling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Royle, J. Andrew; Dawson, D.K.; Bates, S.

2004-01-01

Distance-sampling methods are commonly used in studies of animal populations to estimate population density. A common objective of such studies is to evaluate the relationship between abundance or density and covariates that describe animal habitat or other environmental influences. However, little attention has been focused on methods of modeling abundance covariate effects in conventional distance-sampling models. In this paper we propose a distance-sampling model that accommodates covariate effects on abundance. The model is based on specification of the distance-sampling likelihood at the level of the sample unit in terms of local abundance (for each sampling unit). This model is augmented with a Poisson regression model for local abundance that is parameterized in terms of available covariates. Maximum-likelihood estimation of detection and density parameters is based on the integrated likelihood, wherein local abundance is removed from the likelihood by integration. We provide an example using avian point-transect data of Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapillus) collected using a distance-sampling protocol and two measures of habitat structure (understory cover and basal area of overstory trees). The model yields a sensible description (positive effect of understory cover, negative effect on basal area) of the relationship between habitat and Ovenbird density that can be used to evaluate the effects of habitat management on Ovenbird populations.

Three-state Potts model on non-local directed small-world lattices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferraz, Carlos Handrey Araujo; Lima, José Luiz Sousa

2017-10-01

In this paper, we study the non-local directed Small-World (NLDSW) disorder effects in the three-state Potts model as a form to capture the essential features shared by real complex systems where non-locality effects play a important role in the behavior of these systems. Using Monte Carlo techniques and finite-size scaling analysis, we estimate the infinite lattice critical temperatures and the leading critical exponents in this model. In particular, we investigate the first- to second-order phase transition crossover when NLDSW links are inserted. A cluster-flip algorithm was used to reduce the critical slowing down effect in our simulations. We find that for a NLDSW disorder densities p

Structural model to evaluate the effect of participation and satisfaction on ecotourism sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kencana, Eka N.; Manutami, T.

2017-10-01

This paper is directed to study the effect of local community participation and visitors’ satisfaction on ecotourism sustainability at Badung regency of Bali province, Indonesia. Two important aspects regarding ecotourism sustainability had been studied, i.e. (a) economic benefits for local people and (b) tourists’ satisfaction. Applying variance-based structural equation modeling, data were collected in July 2015 from local community leaders of Kiadan Village at Badung regency and tourists whom visited this village, were analysed. Four latent variables, namely (a) community participation, (b) economic benefits, (c) tourists’ satisfaction, and (d) ecotourism sustainability, were used to build structural model. The results showed sustainability of Kiadan’s ecotourism was significantly affected by local community participation and visitors’ satisfaction although community participation’s effect slightly greater than tourists’ satisfaction with path values for participation and satisfaction as much as 0.651 and 0.627, respectively.

Multiscale modeling of electroosmotic flow: Effects of discrete ion, enhanced viscosity, and surface friction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhadauria, Ravi; Aluru, N. R.

2017-05-01

We propose an isothermal, one-dimensional, electroosmotic flow model for slit-shaped nanochannels. Nanoscale confinement effects are embedded into the transport model by incorporating the spatially varying solvent and ion concentration profiles that correspond to the electrochemical potential of mean force. The local viscosity is dependent on the solvent local density and is modeled using the local average density method. Excess contributions to the local viscosity are included using the Onsager-Fuoss expression that is dependent on the local ionic strength. A Dirichlet-type boundary condition is provided in the form of the slip velocity that is dependent on the macroscopic interfacial friction. This solvent-surface specific interfacial friction is estimated using a dynamical generalized Langevin equation based framework. The electroosmotic flow of Na+ and Cl- as single counterions and NaCl salt solvated in Extended Simple Point Charge (SPC/E) water confined between graphene and silicon slit-shaped nanochannels are considered as examples. The proposed model yields a good quantitative agreement with the solvent velocity profiles obtained from the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations.

Estimation and prediction under local volatility jump-diffusion model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Namhyoung; Lee, Younhee

2018-02-01

Volatility is an important factor in operating a company and managing risk. In the portfolio optimization and risk hedging using the option, the value of the option is evaluated using the volatility model. Various attempts have been made to predict option value. Recent studies have shown that stochastic volatility models and jump-diffusion models reflect stock price movements accurately. However, these models have practical limitations. Combining them with the local volatility model, which is widely used among practitioners, may lead to better performance. In this study, we propose a more effective and efficient method of estimating option prices by combining the local volatility model with the jump-diffusion model and apply it using both artificial and actual market data to evaluate its performance. The calibration process for estimating the jump parameters and local volatility surfaces is divided into three stages. We apply the local volatility model, stochastic volatility model, and local volatility jump-diffusion model estimated by the proposed method to KOSPI 200 index option pricing. The proposed method displays good estimation and prediction performance.

A New Local Failure Model with Application to the Longitudinal Tensile Behavior of Continuously Reinforced Titanium Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bednarcyk, Brett A.; Arnold, Steven M.

2000-01-01

A new model for local fiber failures in composite materials loaded longitudinally is presented. In developing the model, the goal was to account for the effects of fiber breakage on the global response of a composite in a relatively simple and efficient manner. Towards this end, the model includes the important feature of local stress unloading, even as global loading of the composite continues. The model has been incorporated into NASA Glenn's Micromechanics Analysis Code with Generalized Method of Cells (MAC/GMC) and was employed to simulate the longitudinal tensile deformation and failure behavior of several silicon carbide fiber/titanium matrix (SiC/Ti) composites. The model is shown to be quite realistic and capable of accurate predictions for various temperatures, fiber volume fractions, and fiber diameters. Further- more, the new model compares favorably to Curtin's (1993) effective fiber breakage model, which has also been incorporated into MAC/GMC.

Unofficial Road Building in the Brazilian Amazon: Dilemmas and Models for Road Governance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perz, Stephen G.; Overdevest, Christine; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Walker, Robert T.; Arima, Eugenio Y.

2007-01-01

Unofficial roads form dense networks in landscapes, generating a litany of negative ecological outcomes, but unofficial roads in frontier areas are also instrumental in local livelihoods and community development. This trade-off poses dilemmas for the governance of unofficial roads. Unofficial road building in frontier areas of the Brazilian Amazon illustrates the challenges of 'road governance.' Both state-based and community based governance models exhibit important liabilities for governing unofficial roads. Whereas state-based governance has experienced difficulties in adapting to specific local contexts and interacting effectively with local interest groups, community-based governance has a mixed record owing to social inequalities and conflicts among local interest groups. A state-community hybrid model may offer more effective governance of unofficial road building by combining the oversight capacity of the state with locally grounded community management via participatory decision-making.

Solid rocket exhaust in the stratosphere: Plume diffusion and chemical reactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Denison, M.R.; Lamb, J.J.; Bjorndahl, W.D.

1994-05-01

A model has been developed to examine, on a local scale, the reactions of rocket exhaust from solid rocket motors with stratospheric ozone. The effects were examined at two different altitudes. Results of the modeling study indicate that afterburning chemistry of reactive exhaust products can cause local but transient (on the order of several minutes) loss of ozone. The modeling study included potential heterogeneous reactions at aluminum oxide surfaces. Results indicate that these potential heterogeneous reactions do not have a major impact on the local plume chemistry. Homogeneous reactions appear to be of more consequence during the early dispersion ofmore » the plume. It has also been found that the rate of plume dispersion has a very significant effect on local ozone loss.« less

Modifying the electronic and optical properties of carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinder, Jesse M.

The intrinsic electronic and optical properties of carbon nanotubes make them promising candidates for circuit elements and LEDs in nanoscale devices. However, applied fields and interactions with the environment can modify these intrinsic properties. This dissertation is a theoretical study of perturbations to an ideal carbon nanotube. It illustrates how transport and optical properties of carbon nanotubes can be adversely affected or intentionally modified by the local environment. The dissertation is divided into three parts. Part I analyzes the effect of a transverse electric field on the single-electron energy spectrum of semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Part II analyzes the effect of the local environment on selection rules and decay pathways relevant to dark excitons. Part III is a series of 26 appendices. Two different models for a transverse electric field are introduced in Part I. The first is a uniform field perpendicular to the nanotube axis. This model suggests the field has little effect on the band gap until it exceeds a critical value that can be tuned with strain or a magnetic field. The second model is a transverse field localized to a small region along the nanotube axis. The field creates a pair of exponentially localized bound states but has no effect on the band gap for particle transport. Part II explores the physics of dark excitons in carbon nanotubes. Two model calculations illustrate the effect of the local environment on allowed optical transitions and nonradiative recombination pathways. The first model illustrates the role of inversion symmetry in the optical spectrum. Broken inversion symmetry may explain low-lying peaks in the exciton spectrum of boron nitride nanotubes and localized photoemission around impurities and interfaces in carbon nanotubes. The second model in Part II suggests that free charge carriers can mediate an efficient nonradiative decay process for dark excitons in carbon nanotubes. The appendices in Part III provide background material and details of calculations relevant to the main text. These appendices may be useful to researchers new to the study of carbon nanotubes.

Study on superconducting state parameters of Cu1-xZrx metallic glasses using model potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jambusarwala, Tasneem S.; Gajjar, P. N.

2018-05-01

The superconducting state parameters (SSP) of Cu1-xZrx metallic glasses over the full range of concentration x of Zr have been investigated to study influence of various local pseudopotentials. The study includes the computation of electron-phonon coupling strength (λ), transition temperature (TC), isotope effect exponent (α) and effective interaction strength (N0V) using fourteen different forms of local model potentials. The local field correction function proposed by Taylor (T) is used. The influence of model potential on various parameters is ranging from 6% to 83% for pure Zr and 28% to 84% for pure Cu. The present study confirms that the identification of model potential is vital in studying Superconducting State Parameters.

LPV Modeling of a Flexible Wing Aircraft Using Modal Alignment and Adaptive Gridding Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Al-Jiboory, Ali Khudhair; Zhu, Guoming; Swei, Sean Shan-Min; Su, Weihua; Nguyen, Nhan T.

2017-01-01

One of the earliest approaches in gain-scheduling control is the gridding based approach, in which a set of local linear time-invariant models are obtained at various gridded points corresponding to the varying parameters within the flight envelop. In order to ensure smooth and effective Linear Parameter-Varying control, aligning all the flexible modes within each local model and maintaining small number of representative local models over the gridded parameter space are crucial. In addition, since the flexible structural models tend to have large dimensions, a tractable model reduction process is necessary. In this paper, the notion of s-shifted H2- and H Infinity-norm are introduced and used as a metric to measure the model mismatch. A new modal alignment algorithm is developed which utilizes the defined metric for aligning all the local models over the entire gridded parameter space. Furthermore, an Adaptive Grid Step Size Determination algorithm is developed to minimize the number of local models required to represent the gridded parameter space. For model reduction, we propose to utilize the concept of Composite Modal Cost Analysis, through which the collective contribution of each flexible mode is computed and ranked. Therefore, a reduced-order model is constructed by retaining only those modes with significant contribution. The NASA Generic Transport Model operating at various flight speeds is studied for verification purpose, and the analysis and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach.

Effect of Damping and Yielding on the Seismic Response of 3D Steel Buildings with PMRF

PubMed Central

Haldar, Achintya; Rodelo-López, Ramon Eduardo; Bojórquez, Eden

2014-01-01

The effect of viscous damping and yielding, on the reduction of the seismic responses of steel buildings modeled as three-dimensional (3D) complex multidegree of freedom (MDOF) systems, is studied. The reduction produced by damping may be larger or smaller than that of yielding. This reduction can significantly vary from one structural idealization to another and is smaller for global than for local response parameters, which in turn depends on the particular local response parameter. The uncertainty in the estimation is significantly larger for local response parameter and decreases as damping increases. The results show the limitations of the commonly used static equivalent lateral force procedure where local and global response parameters are reduced in the same proportion. It is concluded that estimating the effect of damping and yielding on the seismic response of steel buildings by using simplified models may be a very crude approximation. Moreover, the effect of yielding should be explicitly calculated by using complex 3D MDOF models instead of estimating it in terms of equivalent viscous damping. The findings of this paper are for the particular models used in the study. Much more research is needed to reach more general conclusions. PMID:25097892

Effect of damping and yielding on the seismic response of 3D steel buildings with PMRF.

PubMed

Reyes-Salazar, Alfredo; Haldar, Achintya; Rodelo-López, Ramon Eduardo; Bojórquez, Eden

2014-01-01

The effect of viscous damping and yielding, on the reduction of the seismic responses of steel buildings modeled as three-dimensional (3D) complex multidegree of freedom (MDOF) systems, is studied. The reduction produced by damping may be larger or smaller than that of yielding. This reduction can significantly vary from one structural idealization to another and is smaller for global than for local response parameters, which in turn depends on the particular local response parameter. The uncertainty in the estimation is significantly larger for local response parameter and decreases as damping increases. The results show the limitations of the commonly used static equivalent lateral force procedure where local and global response parameters are reduced in the same proportion. It is concluded that estimating the effect of damping and yielding on the seismic response of steel buildings by using simplified models may be a very crude approximation. Moreover, the effect of yielding should be explicitly calculated by using complex 3D MDOF models instead of estimating it in terms of equivalent viscous damping. The findings of this paper are for the particular models used in the study. Much more research is needed to reach more general conclusions.

The role of local repulsion in superconductivity in the Hubbard-Holstein model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Chungwei; Wang, Bingnan; Teo, Koon Hoo

2017-01-01

We examine the superconducting solution in the Hubbard-Holstein model using Dynamical Mean Field Theory. The Holstein term introduces the site-independent Boson fields coupling to local electron density, and has two competing influences on superconductivity: The Boson field mediates the effective electron-electron attraction, which is essential for the S-wave electron pairing; the same coupling to the Boson fields also induces the polaron effect, which makes the system less metallic and thus suppresses superconductivity. The Hubbard term introduces an energy penalty U when two electrons occupy the same site, which is expected to suppress superconductivity. By solving the Hubbard-Holstein model using Dynamical Mean Field theory, we find that the Hubbard U can be beneficial to superconductivity under some circumstances. In particular, we demonstrate that when the Boson energy Ω is small, a weak local repulsion actually stabilizesthe S-wave superconducting state. This behavior can be understood as an interplay between superconductivity, the polaron effect, and the on-site repulsion: As the polaron effect is strong and suppresses superconductivity in the small Ω regime, the weak on-site repulsion reduces the polaron effect and effectively enhances superconductivity. Our calculation elucidates the role of local repulsion in the conventional S-wave superconductors.

Local effects of partly-cloudy skies on solar and emitted radiations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitney, D. A.; Griffin, T. J.

1983-01-01

Atmospheric aerosol and turbidity measurements were analyzed and the results are presented. The correlation of global insolation with cloud cover fractions for the first complete year's data set was completed. A theoretical model was developed to parameterize the effects of local aerosols upon insolation received at the ground using satellite radiometric data and insolation measurements under clear sky conditions. A February data set, composed of one minute integrated global insolation and direct solar irradiances, cloud cover fractions, meteorological data from nearby weather stations, and GOES East satellite radiometric data was collected to test the model and used to calculate the effects of local aerosols.

Estimation of Local Bone Loads for the Volume of Interest.

PubMed

Kim, Jung Jin; Kim, Youkyung; Jang, In Gwun

2016-07-01

Computational bone remodeling simulations have recently received significant attention with the aid of state-of-the-art high-resolution imaging modalities. They have been performed using localized finite element (FE) models rather than full FE models due to the excessive computational costs of full FE models. However, these localized bone remodeling simulations remain to be investigated in more depth. In particular, applying simplified loading conditions (e.g., uniform and unidirectional loads) to localized FE models have a severe limitation in a reliable subject-specific assessment. In order to effectively determine the physiological local bone loads for the volume of interest (VOI), this paper proposes a novel method of estimating the local loads when the global musculoskeletal loads are given. The proposed method is verified for the three VOI in a proximal femur in terms of force equilibrium, displacement field, and strain energy density (SED) distribution. The effect of the global load deviation on the local load estimation is also investigated by perturbing a hip joint contact force (HCF) in the femoral head. Deviation in force magnitude exhibits the greatest absolute changes in a SED distribution due to its own greatest deviation, whereas angular deviation perpendicular to a HCF provides the greatest relative change. With further in vivo force measurements and high-resolution clinical imaging modalities, the proposed method will contribute to the development of reliable patient-specific localized FE models, which can provide enhanced computational efficiency for iterative computing processes such as bone remodeling simulations.

Embedded System Implementation of Sound Localization in Proximal Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwanaga, Nobuyuki; Matsumura, Tomoya; Yoshida, Akihiro; Kobayashi, Wataru; Onoye, Takao

A sound localization method in the proximal region is proposed, which is based on a low-cost 3D sound localization algorithm with the use of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). The auditory parallax model is applied to the current algorithm so that more accurate HRTFs can be used for sound localization in the proximal region. In addition, head-shadowing effects based on rigid-sphere model are reproduced in the proximal region by means of a second-order IIR filter. A subjective listening test demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. Embedded system implementation of the proposed method is also described claiming that the proposed method improves sound effects in the proximal region only with 5.1% increase of memory capacity and 8.3% of computational costs.

Experimental and modelling studies for the validation of the mechanistic basis of the Local Effect Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tommasino, F.

2016-03-01

This review will summarize results obtained in the recent years applying the Local Effect Model (LEM) approach to the study of basic radiobiological aspects, as for instance DNA damage induction and repair, and charged particle track structure. The promising results obtained using different experimental techniques and looking at different biological end points, support the relevance of the LEM approach for the description of radiation effects induced by both low- and high-LET radiation. Furthermore, they suggest that nowadays the appropriate combination of experimental and modelling tools can lead to advances in the understanding of several open issues in the field of radiation biology.

Seed Dispersal Near and Far: Patterns Across Temperate and Tropical Forests

Treesearch

James S. Clark; Miles Silman; Ruth Kern; Eric Macklin; Janneke HilleRisLambers

1999-01-01

Dispersal affects community dynamics and vegetation response to global change. Understanding these effects requires descriptions of dispersal at local and regional scales and statistical models that permit estimation. Classical models of dispersal describe local or long-distance dispersal, but not both. The lack of statistical methods means that models have rarely been...

Many-body localization proximity effects in platforms of coupled spins and bosons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marino, J.; Nandkishore, R. M.

2018-02-01

We discuss the onset of many-body localization in a one-dimensional system composed of a XXZ quantum spin chain and a Bose-Hubbard model linearly coupled together. We consider two complementary setups, depending whether spatial disorder is initially imprinted on spins or on bosons; in both cases, we explore the conditions for the disordered portion of the system to localize by proximity of the other clean half. Assuming that the dynamics of one of the two parts develops on shorter time scales than the other, we can adiabatically eliminate the fast degrees of freedom, and derive an effective Hamiltonian for the system's remainder using projection operator techniques. Performing a locator expansion on the strength of the many-body interaction term or on the hopping amplitude of the effective Hamiltonian thus derived, we present results on the stability of the many-body localized phases induced by proximity effect. We also briefly comment on the feasibility of the proposed model through modern quantum optics architectures, with the long-term perspective to realize experimentally, in composite open systems, Anderson or many-body localization proximity effects.

Biodiversity and ecosystem stability across scales in metacommunities

PubMed Central

Wang, Shaopeng; Loreau, Michel

2016-01-01

Although diversity-stability relationships have been extensively studied in local ecosystems, the global biodiversity crisis calls for an improved understanding of these relationships in a spatial context. Here we use a dynamical model of competitive metacommunities to study the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem variability across scales. We derive analytic relationships under a limiting case; these results are extended to more general cases with numerical simulations. Our model shows that, while alpha diversity decreases local ecosystem variability, beta diversity generally contributes to increasing spatial asynchrony among local ecosystems. Consequently, both alpha and beta diversity provide stabilizing effects for regional ecosystems, through local and spatial insurance effects, respectively. We further show that at the regional scale, the stabilizing effect of biodiversity increases as spatial environmental correlation increases. Our findings have important implications for understanding the interactive effects of global environmental changes (e.g. environmental homogenization) and biodiversity loss on ecosystem sustainability at large scales. PMID:26918536

Strain localization in models and nature: bridging the gaps.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burov, E.; Francois, T.; Leguille, J.

2012-04-01

Mechanisms of strain localization and their role in tectonic evolution are still largely debated. Indeed, the laboratory data on strain localization processes are not abundant, they do not cover the entire range of possible mechanisms and have to be extrapolated, sometimes with greatest uncertainties, to geological scales while the observations of localization processes at outcrop scale are scarce, not always representative, and usually are difficult to quantify. Numerical thermo-mechanical models allow us to investigate the relative importance of some of the localization processes whether they are hypothesized or observed at laboratory or outcrop scale. The numerical models can test different observationally or analytically derived laws in terms of their applicability to natural scales and tectonic processes. The models are limited, however, in their capacity of reproduction of physical mechanisms, and necessary simplify the softening laws leading to "numerical" localization. Numerical strain localization is also limited by grid resolution and the ability of specific numerical codes to handle large strains and the complexity of the associated physical phenomena. Hence, multiple iterations between observations and models are needed to elucidate the causes of strain localization in nature. We here investigate the relative impact of different weakening laws on localization of deformation using large-strain thermo-mechanical models. We test using several "generic" rifting and collision settings, the implications of structural softening, tectonic heritage, shear heating, friction angle and cohesion softening, ductile softening (mimicking grain-size reduction) as well as of a number of other mechanisms such as fluid-assisted phase changes. The results suggest that different mechanisms of strain localization may interfere in nature, yet it most cases it is not evident to establish quantifiable links between the laboratory data and the best-fitting parameters of the effective softening laws that allow to reproduce large scale tectonic evolution. For example, one of most effective and widely used mechanisms of "numerical" strain localization is friction angle softening. Yet, namely this law appears to be most difficult to justify from physical and observational grounds.

Heat Transfer and Fluid Transport of Supercritical CO 2 in Enhanced Geothermal System with Local Thermal Non-equilibrium Model

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Le; Luo, Feng; Xu, Ruina; ...

2014-12-31

The heat transfer and fluid transport of supercritical CO 2 in enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is studied numerically with local thermal non-equilibrium model, which accounts for the temperature difference between solid matrix and fluid components in porous media and uses two energy equations to describe heat transfer in the solid matrix and in the fluid, respectively. As compared with the previous results of our research group, the effect of local thermal non-equilibrium mainly depends on the volumetric heat transfer coefficient ah, which has a significant effect on the production temperature at reservoir outlet and thermal breakthrough time. The uniformity ofmore » volumetric heat transfer coefficient ah has little influence on the thermal breakthrough time, but the temperature difference become more obvious with time after thermal breakthrough with this simulation model. The thermal breakthrough time reduces and the effect of local thermal non-equilibrium becomes significant with decreasing ah.« less

Local variability mediates vulnerability of trout populations to land use and climate change

Treesearch

Brooke E. Penaluna; Jason B. Dunham; Steve F. Railsback; Ivan Arismendi; Sherri L. Johnson; Robert E. Bilby; Mohammad Safeeq; Arne E. Skaugset; James P. Meador

2015-01-01

Land use and climate change occur simultaneously around the globe. Fully understanding their separate and combined effects requires a mechanistic understanding at the local scale where their effects are ultimately realized. Here we applied an individual-based model of fish population dynamics to evaluate the role of local stream variability in modifying responses of...

Finite metapopulation models with density-dependent migration and stochastic local dynamics

PubMed Central

Saether, B.-E.; Engen, S.; Lande, R.

1999-01-01

The effects of small density-dependent migration on the dynamics of a metapopulation are studied in a model with stochastic local dynamics. We use a diffusion approximation to study how changes in the migration rate and habitat occupancy affect the rates of local colonization and extinction. If the emigration rate increases or if the immigration rate decreases with local population size, a positive expected rate of change in habitat occupancy is found for a greater range of habitat occupancies than when the migration is density-independent. In contrast, the reverse patterns of density dependence in respective emigration and immigration reduce the range of habitat occupancies where the metapopulation will be viable. This occurs because density-dependent migration strongly influences both the establishment and rescue effects in the local dynamics of metapopulations.

The dynamic and indirect spatial effects of neighborhood conditions on land value, spatial panel dynamic econometrics model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitriani, Rahma; Sumarminingsih, Eni; Astutik, Suci

2017-05-01

Land value is the product of past decision of its use leading to its value, as well as the value of the surrounded land. It is also affected by the local characteristic and the spillover development demand of the previous time period. The effect of each factor on land value will have dynamic and spatial virtues. Thus, a spatial panel dynamic model is used to estimate the particular effects. The model will be useful for predicting the future land value or the effect of implemented policy on land value. The objective of this paper is to derive the dynamic and indirect spatial marginal effects of the land characteristic and the spillover development demand on land value. Each effect is the partial derivative of the expected land value based on the spatial dynamic model with respect to each variable, by considering different time period and different location. The results indicate that the instant change of local or neighborhood characteristics on land value affect the local and the immediate neighborhood land value. However, the longer the change take place, the effect will spread further, not only on the immediate neighborhood.

Effects of local and regional climatic fluctuations on dengue outbreaks in southern Taiwan

PubMed Central

Chaves, Luis Fernando; Chen, Po-Jiang

2017-01-01

Background Southern Taiwan has been a hotspot for dengue fever transmission since 1998. During 2014 and 2015, Taiwan experienced unprecedented dengue outbreaks and the causes are poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the influence of regional and local climate conditions on the incidence of dengue fever in Taiwan, as well as to develop a climate-based model for future forecasting. Methodology/Principle findings Historical time-series data on dengue outbreaks in southern Taiwan from 1998 to 2015 were investigated. Local climate variables were analyzed using a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM), and the model of best fit was used to predict dengue incidence between 2013 and 2015. The cross-wavelet coherence approach was used to evaluate the regional El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) effects on dengue incidence and local climate variables. The DLNM results highlighted the important non-linear and lag effects of minimum temperature and precipitation. Minimum temperature above 23°C or below 17°C can increase dengue incidence rate with lag effects of 10 to 15 weeks. Moderate to high precipitation can increase dengue incidence rates with a lag of 10 or 20 weeks. The model of best fit successfully predicted dengue transmission between 2013 and 2015. The prediction accuracy ranged from 0.7 to 0.9, depending on the number of weeks ahead of the prediction. ENSO and IOD were associated with nonstationary inter-annual patterns of dengue transmission. IOD had a greater impact on the seasonality of local climate conditions. Conclusions/Significance Our findings suggest that dengue transmission can be affected by regional and local climatic fluctuations in southern Taiwan. The climate-based model developed in this study can provide important information for dengue early warning systems in Taiwan. Local climate conditions might be influenced by ENSO and IOD, to result in unusual dengue outbreaks. PMID:28575035

Effects of local and regional climatic fluctuations on dengue outbreaks in southern Taiwan.

PubMed

Chuang, Ting-Wu; Chaves, Luis Fernando; Chen, Po-Jiang

2017-01-01

Southern Taiwan has been a hotspot for dengue fever transmission since 1998. During 2014 and 2015, Taiwan experienced unprecedented dengue outbreaks and the causes are poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the influence of regional and local climate conditions on the incidence of dengue fever in Taiwan, as well as to develop a climate-based model for future forecasting. Historical time-series data on dengue outbreaks in southern Taiwan from 1998 to 2015 were investigated. Local climate variables were analyzed using a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM), and the model of best fit was used to predict dengue incidence between 2013 and 2015. The cross-wavelet coherence approach was used to evaluate the regional El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) effects on dengue incidence and local climate variables. The DLNM results highlighted the important non-linear and lag effects of minimum temperature and precipitation. Minimum temperature above 23°C or below 17°C can increase dengue incidence rate with lag effects of 10 to 15 weeks. Moderate to high precipitation can increase dengue incidence rates with a lag of 10 or 20 weeks. The model of best fit successfully predicted dengue transmission between 2013 and 2015. The prediction accuracy ranged from 0.7 to 0.9, depending on the number of weeks ahead of the prediction. ENSO and IOD were associated with nonstationary inter-annual patterns of dengue transmission. IOD had a greater impact on the seasonality of local climate conditions. Our findings suggest that dengue transmission can be affected by regional and local climatic fluctuations in southern Taiwan. The climate-based model developed in this study can provide important information for dengue early warning systems in Taiwan. Local climate conditions might be influenced by ENSO and IOD, to result in unusual dengue outbreaks.

A non-local model of fractional heat conduction in rigid bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borino, G.; di Paola, M.; Zingales, M.

2011-03-01

In recent years several applications of fractional differential calculus have been proposed in physics, chemistry as well as in engineering fields. Fractional order integrals and derivatives extend the well-known definitions of integer-order primitives and derivatives of the ordinary differential calculus to real-order operators. Engineering applications of fractional operators spread from viscoelastic models, stochastic dynamics as well as with thermoelasticity. In this latter field one of the main actractives of fractional operators is their capability to interpolate between the heat flux and its time-rate of change, that is related to the well-known second sound effect. In other recent studies a fractional, non-local thermoelastic model has been proposed as a particular case of the non-local, integral, thermoelasticity introduced at the mid of the seventies. In this study the autors aim to introduce a different non-local model of extended irreverible thermodynamics to account for second sound effect. Long-range heat flux is defined and it involves the integral part of the spatial Marchaud fractional derivatives of the temperature field whereas the second-sound effect is accounted for introducing time-derivative of the heat flux in the transport equation. It is shown that the proposed model does not suffer of the pathological problems of non-homogenoeus boundary conditions. Moreover the proposed model coalesces with the Povstenko fractional models in unbounded domains.

Local convection-enhanced delivery of an anti-CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody induces antitumor effects in mouse glioma models

PubMed Central

Shoji, Takuhiro; Saito, Ryuta; Chonan, Masashi; Shibahara, Ichiyo; Sato, Aya; Kanamori, Masayuki; Sonoda, Yukihiko; Kondo, Toru; Ishii, Naoto; Tominaga, Teiji

2016-01-01

Background Glioblastoma is one of the most malignant brain tumors in adults and has a dismal prognosis. In a previous report, we reported that CD40, a TNF-R-related cell surface receptor, and its ligand CD40L were associated with glioma outcomes. Here we attempted to activate CD40 signaling in the tumor and determine if it exerted therapeutic efficacy. Methods CD40 expression was examined in 3 mouse glioma cell lines (GL261, NSCL61, and bRiTs-G3) and 5 human glioma cell lines (U87, U251, U373, T98, and A172). NSCL61 and bRiTs-G3, as glioma stem cells, also expressed the glioma stem cell markers MELK and CD44. In vitro, we demonstrated direct antitumor effects of an anti-CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody (FGK45) against the cell lines. The efficacy of FGK45 was examined by local convection-enhanced delivery of the monoclonal antibody against each glioma model. Results CD40 was expressed in all mouse and human cell lines tested and was found at the cell membrane of each of the 3 mouse cell lines. FGK45 administration induced significant, direct antitumor effects in vitro. The local delivery of FGK45 significantly prolonged survival compared with controls in the NSCL61 and bRiTs-G3 models, but the effect was not significant in the GL261 model. Increases in apoptosis and CD4+ and CD8+ T cell infiltration were observed in the bRiTs-G3 model after FGK45 treatment. Conclusions Local delivery of FGK45 significantly prolonged survival in glioma stem cell models. Thus, local delivery of this monoclonal antibody is promising for immunotherapy against gliomas. PMID:26917236

Humanitarian Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Sub-Saharan Africa: Can We Reshape the Model?

PubMed

Tefera, Endale; Nega, Berhanu; Yadeta, Dejuma; Chanie, Yilkal

2016-11-01

In recent decades, humanitarian cardiology and cardiac surgery have shifted toward sending short-term surgical and catheter missions to treat patients. Although this model has been shown to be effective in bringing cardiovascular care to the patients' environment, its effectiveness in creating sustainable service is questioned. This study reports the barriers to contribution of missions to effective skill transfer and possible improvements needed in the future, from the perspective of both the local and overseas teams. We reviewed the mission-based activities in the Children's Heart Fund Cardiac Center in the past six years. We distributed questionnaires to the local surgeons and the lead surgeons of the overseas teams. Twenty-six missions visited the center 57 times. There were 371 operating days and 605 surgical procedures. Of the procedures performed, 498 were open-heart surgeries. Of the operations, 360 were congenital cases and 204 were rheumatic. Six local surgeons and 18 overseas surgeons responded. Both groups agree the current model of collaboration is not optimal for effective skill transfer. The local surgeons suggested deeper involvement of the universities, governmental institutions, defined training goals and time frame, and communication among the overseas teams themselves as remedies in the future. Majority of the overseas surgeons agree that networking and regular communication among the missions themselves are needed. Some reflected that it would be convenient if the local surgeons are trained by one or two frequently visiting surgeons in their early years and later exposed to multiple teams if needed. The current model of collaboration has brought cardiac care to patients having cardiac diseases. However, the model appears to be suboptimal for skill transfer. The model needs to be reshaped to achieve this complex goal. © The Author(s) 2016.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meng, Xiangyu; Shi, Xianbo; Wang, Yong

The mutual optical intensity (MOI) model is extended to include the propagation of partially coherent radiation through non-ideal mirrors. The propagation of the MOI from the incident to the exit plane of the mirror is realised by local ray tracing. The effects of figure errors can be expressed as phase shifts obtained by either the phase projection approach or the direct path length method. Using the MOI model, the effects of figure errors are studied for diffraction-limited cases using elliptical cylinder mirrors. Figure errors with low spatial frequencies can vary the intensity distribution, redistribute the local coherence function and distortmore » the wavefront, but have no effect on the global degree of coherence. The MOI model is benchmarked againstHYBRIDand the multi-electronSynchrotron Radiation Workshop(SRW) code. The results show that the MOI model gives accurate results under different coherence conditions of the beam. Other than intensity profiles, the MOI model can also provide the wavefront and the local coherence function at any location along the beamline. The capability of tuning the trade-off between accuracy and efficiency makes the MOI model an ideal tool for beamline design and optimization.« less

Effectiveness of international surgical program model to build local sustainability.

PubMed

Magee, William P; Raimondi, Haley M; Beers, Mark; Koech, Maryanne C

2012-01-01

Background. Humanitarian medical missions may be an effective way to temporarily overcome limitations and promote long-term solutions in the local health care system. Operation Smile, an international medical not-for-profit organization that provides surgery for patients with cleft lip and palate, not only provides surgery through short-term international missions but also focuses on developing local capacity. Methods. The history of Operation Smile was evaluated globally, and then on a local level in 3 countries: Colombia, Bolivia, and Ethiopia. Historical data was assessed by two-pronged success of (1) treating the surgical need presented by cleft patients and (2) advancing the local capacity to provide primary and ongoing care to patients. Results. The number of patients treated by Operation Smile has continually increased. Though it began by using only international teams to provide care, by 2012, this had shifted to 33% of patients being treated by international teams, while the other 67% received treatment from local models of care. The highest level of sustainability was achieved in Columbia, where two permanent centers have been established, followed by Bolivia and lastly Ethiopia. Conclusions. International missions have value because of the patients that receive surgery and the local sustainable models of care that they promote.

Evaluation of expansile nanoparticle tumor localization and efficacy in a cancer stem cell-derived model of pancreatic peritoneal carcinomatosis

PubMed Central

Herrera, Victoria LM; Colby, Aaron H; Tan, Glaiza AL; Moran, Ann M; O’Brien, Michael J; Colson, Yolonda L; Ruiz-Opazo, Nelson; Grinstaff, Mark W

2016-01-01

Aim: To evaluate the tumor localization and efficacy pH-responsive expansile nanoparticles (eNPs) as a drug delivery system for pancreatic peritoneal carcinomatosis (PPC) modeled in nude rats. Methods & materials: A Panc-1-cancer stem cell xeno1graft model of PPC was validated in vitro and in vivo. Tumor localization was tracked via in situ imaging of fluorescent eNPs. Survival of animals treated with paclitaxel-loaded eNPs (PTX-eNPs) was evaluated in vivo. Results: The Panc-1-cancer stem cell xenograft model recapitulates significant features of PPC. Rhodamine-labeled eNPs demonstrate tumor-specific, dose- and time-dependent localization to macro- and microscopic tumors following intraperitoneal injection. PTX-eNPs are as effective as free PTX in treating established PPC; but, PTX-eNPs result in fewer side effects. Conclusion: eNPs are a promising tool for the detection and treatment of PPC. PMID:27078118

Localization in covariance matrices of coupled heterogenous Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barucca, Paolo

2014-12-01

We define a random-matrix ensemble given by the infinite-time covariance matrices of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes at different temperatures coupled by a Gaussian symmetric matrix. The spectral properties of this ensemble are shown to be in qualitative agreement with some stylized facts of financial markets. Through the presented model formulas are given for the analysis of heterogeneous time series. Furthermore evidence for a localization transition in eigenvectors related to small and large eigenvalues in cross-correlations analysis of this model is found, and a simple explanation of localization phenomena in financial time series is provided. Finally we identify both in our model and in real financial data an inverted-bell effect in correlation between localized components and their local temperature: high- and low-temperature components are the most localized ones.

[Prediction and spatial distribution of recruitment trees of natural secondary forest based on geographically weighted Poisson model].

PubMed

Zhang, Ling Yu; Liu, Zhao Gang

2017-12-01

Based on the data collected from 108 permanent plots of the forest resources survey in Maoershan Experimental Forest Farm during 2004-2016, this study investigated the spatial distribution of recruitment trees in natural secondary forest by global Poisson regression and geographically weighted Poisson regression (GWPR) with four bandwidths of 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 km. The simulation effects of the 5 regressions and the factors influencing the recruitment trees in stands were analyzed, a description was given to the spatial autocorrelation of the regression residuals on global and local levels using Moran's I. The results showed that the spatial distribution of the number of natural secondary forest recruitment was significantly influenced by stands and topographic factors, especially average DBH. The GWPR model with small scale (2.5 km) had high accuracy of model fitting, a large range of model parameter estimates was generated, and the localized spatial distribution effect of the model parameters was obtained. The GWPR model at small scale (2.5 and 5 km) had produced a small range of model residuals, and the stability of the model was improved. The global spatial auto-correlation of the GWPR model residual at the small scale (2.5 km) was the lowe-st, and the local spatial auto-correlation was significantly reduced, in which an ideal spatial distribution pattern of small clusters with different observations was formed. The local model at small scale (2.5 km) was much better than the global model in the simulation effect on the spatial distribution of recruitment tree number.

Modeling and Simulating Multiple Failure Masking enabled by Local Recovery for Stencil-based Applications at Extreme Scales

DOE PAGES

Gamell, Marc; Teranishi, Keita; Mayo, Jackson; ...

2017-04-24

By obtaining multi-process hard failure resilience at the application level is a key challenge that must be overcome before the promise of exascale can be fully realized. Some previous work has shown that online global recovery can dramatically reduce the overhead of failures when compared to the more traditional approach of terminating the job and restarting it from the last stored checkpoint. If online recovery is performed in a local manner further scalability is enabled, not only due to the intrinsic lower costs of recovering locally, but also due to derived effects when using some application types. In this papermore » we model one such effect, namely multiple failure masking, that manifests when running Stencil parallel computations on an environment when failures are recovered locally. First, the delay propagation shape of one or multiple failures recovered locally is modeled to enable several analyses of the probability of different levels of failure masking under certain Stencil application behaviors. These results indicate that failure masking is an extremely desirable effect at scale which manifestation is more evident and beneficial as the machine size or the failure rate increase.« less

Modeling and Simulating Multiple Failure Masking enabled by Local Recovery for Stencil-based Applications at Extreme Scales

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gamell, Marc; Teranishi, Keita; Mayo, Jackson

By obtaining multi-process hard failure resilience at the application level is a key challenge that must be overcome before the promise of exascale can be fully realized. Some previous work has shown that online global recovery can dramatically reduce the overhead of failures when compared to the more traditional approach of terminating the job and restarting it from the last stored checkpoint. If online recovery is performed in a local manner further scalability is enabled, not only due to the intrinsic lower costs of recovering locally, but also due to derived effects when using some application types. In this papermore » we model one such effect, namely multiple failure masking, that manifests when running Stencil parallel computations on an environment when failures are recovered locally. First, the delay propagation shape of one or multiple failures recovered locally is modeled to enable several analyses of the probability of different levels of failure masking under certain Stencil application behaviors. These results indicate that failure masking is an extremely desirable effect at scale which manifestation is more evident and beneficial as the machine size or the failure rate increase.« less

Designing a podiatry service to meet the needs of the population: a service simulation.

PubMed

Campbell, Jackie A

2007-02-01

A model of a podiatry service has been developed which takes into consideration the effect of changing access criteria, skill mix and staffing levels (among others) given fixed local staffing budgets and the foot-health characteristics of the local community. A spreadsheet-based deterministic model was chosen to allow maximum transparency of programming. This work models a podiatry service in England, but could be adapted for other settings and, with some modification, for other community-based services. This model enables individual services to see the effect on outcome parameters such as number of patients treated, number discharged and size of waiting lists of various service configurations, given their individual local data profile. The process of designing the model has also had spin-off benefits for the participants in making explicit many of the implicit rules used in managing their services.

Depth Reconstruction from Single Images Using a Convolutional Neural Network and a Condition Random Field Model.

PubMed

Liu, Dan; Liu, Xuejun; Wu, Yiguang

2018-04-24

This paper presents an effective approach for depth reconstruction from a single image through the incorporation of semantic information and local details from the image. A unified framework for depth acquisition is constructed by joining a deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a continuous pairwise Conditional Random Field (CRF) model. Semantic information and relative depth trends of local regions inside the image are integrated into the framework. A deep CNN network is firstly used to automatically learn a hierarchical feature representation of the image. To get more local details in the image, the relative depth trends of local regions are incorporated into the network. Combined with semantic information of the image, a continuous pairwise CRF is then established and is used as the loss function of the unified model. Experiments on real scenes demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective and that the approach obtains satisfactory results.

Developing a local least-squares support vector machines-based neuro-fuzzy model for nonlinear and chaotic time series prediction.

PubMed

Miranian, A; Abdollahzade, M

2013-02-01

Local modeling approaches, owing to their ability to model different operating regimes of nonlinear systems and processes by independent local models, seem appealing for modeling, identification, and prediction applications. In this paper, we propose a local neuro-fuzzy (LNF) approach based on the least-squares support vector machines (LSSVMs). The proposed LNF approach employs LSSVMs, which are powerful in modeling and predicting time series, as local models and uses hierarchical binary tree (HBT) learning algorithm for fast and efficient estimation of its parameters. The HBT algorithm heuristically partitions the input space into smaller subdomains by axis-orthogonal splits. In each partitioning, the validity functions automatically form a unity partition and therefore normalization side effects, e.g., reactivation, are prevented. Integration of LSSVMs into the LNF network as local models, along with the HBT learning algorithm, yield a high-performance approach for modeling and prediction of complex nonlinear time series. The proposed approach is applied to modeling and predictions of different nonlinear and chaotic real-world and hand-designed systems and time series. Analysis of the prediction results and comparisons with recent and old studies demonstrate the promising performance of the proposed LNF approach with the HBT learning algorithm for modeling and prediction of nonlinear and chaotic systems and time series.

Local-scale topoclimate effects on treeline elevations: a country-wide investigation of New Zealand's southern beech treelines.

PubMed

Case, Bradley S; Buckley, Hannah L

2015-01-01

Although treeline elevations are limited globally by growing season temperature, at regional scales treelines frequently deviate below their climatic limit. The cause of these deviations relate to a host of climatic, disturbance, and geomorphic factors that operate at multiple scales. The ability to disentangle the relative effects of these factors is currently hampered by the lack of reliable topoclimatic data, which describe how regional climatic characteristics are modified by topographic effects in mountain areas. In this study we present an analysis of the combined effects of local- and regional-scale factors on southern beech treeline elevation variability at 28 study areas across New Zealand. We apply a mesoscale atmospheric model to generate local-scale (200 m) meteorological data at these treelines and, from these data, we derive a set of topoclimatic indices that reflect possible detrimental and ameliorative influences on tree physiological functioning. Principal components analysis of meteorological data revealed geographic structure in how study areas were situated in multivariate space along gradients of topoclimate. Random forest and conditional inference tree modelling enabled us to tease apart the relative effects of 17 explanatory factors on local-scale treeline elevation variability. Overall, modelling explained about 50% of the variation in treeline elevation variability across the 28 study areas, with local landform and topoclimatic effects generally outweighing those from regional-scale factors across the 28 study areas. Further, the nature of the relationships between treeline elevation variability and the explanatory variables were complex, frequently non-linear, and consistent with the treeline literature. To our knowledge, this is the first study where model-generated meteorological data, and derived topoclimatic indices, have been developed and applied to explain treeline variation. Our results demonstrate the potential of such an approach for ecological research in mountainous environments.

Local-scale topoclimate effects on treeline elevations: a country-wide investigation of New Zealand’s southern beech treelines

PubMed Central

Buckley, Hannah L.

2015-01-01

Although treeline elevations are limited globally by growing season temperature, at regional scales treelines frequently deviate below their climatic limit. The cause of these deviations relate to a host of climatic, disturbance, and geomorphic factors that operate at multiple scales. The ability to disentangle the relative effects of these factors is currently hampered by the lack of reliable topoclimatic data, which describe how regional climatic characteristics are modified by topographic effects in mountain areas. In this study we present an analysis of the combined effects of local- and regional-scale factors on southern beech treeline elevation variability at 28 study areas across New Zealand. We apply a mesoscale atmospheric model to generate local-scale (200 m) meteorological data at these treelines and, from these data, we derive a set of topoclimatic indices that reflect possible detrimental and ameliorative influences on tree physiological functioning. Principal components analysis of meteorological data revealed geographic structure in how study areas were situated in multivariate space along gradients of topoclimate. Random forest and conditional inference tree modelling enabled us to tease apart the relative effects of 17 explanatory factors on local-scale treeline elevation variability. Overall, modelling explained about 50% of the variation in treeline elevation variability across the 28 study areas, with local landform and topoclimatic effects generally outweighing those from regional-scale factors across the 28 study areas. Further, the nature of the relationships between treeline elevation variability and the explanatory variables were complex, frequently non-linear, and consistent with the treeline literature. To our knowledge, this is the first study where model-generated meteorological data, and derived topoclimatic indices, have been developed and applied to explain treeline variation. Our results demonstrate the potential of such an approach for ecological research in mountainous environments. PMID:26528407

A class of covariate-dependent spatiotemporal covariance functions

PubMed Central

Reich, Brian J; Eidsvik, Jo; Guindani, Michele; Nail, Amy J; Schmidt, Alexandra M.

2014-01-01

In geostatistics, it is common to model spatially distributed phenomena through an underlying stationary and isotropic spatial process. However, these assumptions are often untenable in practice because of the influence of local effects in the correlation structure. Therefore, it has been of prolonged interest in the literature to provide flexible and effective ways to model non-stationarity in the spatial effects. Arguably, due to the local nature of the problem, we might envision that the correlation structure would be highly dependent on local characteristics of the domain of study, namely the latitude, longitude and altitude of the observation sites, as well as other locally defined covariate information. In this work, we provide a flexible and computationally feasible way for allowing the correlation structure of the underlying processes to depend on local covariate information. We discuss the properties of the induced covariance functions and discuss methods to assess its dependence on local covariate information by means of a simulation study and the analysis of data observed at ozone-monitoring stations in the Southeast United States. PMID:24772199

A malaria transmission-directed model of mosquito life cycle and ecology

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Malaria is a major public health issue in much of the world, and the mosquito vectors which drive transmission are key targets for interventions. Mathematical models for planning malaria eradication benefit from detailed representations of local mosquito populations, their natural dynamics and their response to campaign pressures. Methods A new model is presented for mosquito population dynamics, effects of weather, and impacts of multiple simultaneous interventions. This model is then embedded in a large-scale individual-based simulation and results for local elimination of malaria are discussed. Mosquito population behaviours, such as anthropophily and indoor feeding, are included to study their effect upon the efficacy of vector control-based elimination campaigns. Results Results for vector control tools, such as bed nets, indoor spraying, larval control and space spraying, both alone and in combination, are displayed for a single-location simulation with vector species and seasonality characteristic of central Tanzania, varying baseline transmission intensity and vector bionomics. The sensitivities to habitat type, anthropophily, indoor feeding, and baseline transmission intensity are explored. Conclusions The ability to model a spectrum of local vector species with different ecologies and behaviours allows local customization of packages of interventions and exploration of the effect of proposed new tools. PMID:21999664

Coarse-grained models using local-density potentials optimized with the relative entropy: Application to implicit solvation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanyal, Tanmoy; Shell, M. Scott

2016-07-01

Bottom-up multiscale techniques are frequently used to develop coarse-grained (CG) models for simulations at extended length and time scales but are often limited by a compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy. The conventional approach to CG nonbonded interactions uses pair potentials which, while computationally efficient, can neglect the inherently multibody contributions of the local environment of a site to its energy, due to degrees of freedom that were coarse-grained out. This effect often causes the CG potential to depend strongly on the overall system density, composition, or other properties, which limits its transferability to states other than the one at which it was parameterized. Here, we propose to incorporate multibody effects into CG potentials through additional nonbonded terms, beyond pair interactions, that depend in a mean-field manner on local densities of different atomic species. This approach is analogous to embedded atom and bond-order models that seek to capture multibody electronic effects in metallic systems. We show that the relative entropy coarse-graining framework offers a systematic route to parameterizing such local density potentials. We then characterize this approach in the development of implicit solvation strategies for interactions between model hydrophobes in an aqueous environment.

Robust Measurement via A Fused Latent and Graphical Item Response Theory Model.

PubMed

Chen, Yunxiao; Li, Xiaoou; Liu, Jingchen; Ying, Zhiliang

2018-03-12

Item response theory (IRT) plays an important role in psychological and educational measurement. Unlike the classical testing theory, IRT models aggregate the item level information, yielding more accurate measurements. Most IRT models assume local independence, an assumption not likely to be satisfied in practice, especially when the number of items is large. Results in the literature and simulation studies in this paper reveal that misspecifying the local independence assumption may result in inaccurate measurements and differential item functioning. To provide more robust measurements, we propose an integrated approach by adding a graphical component to a multidimensional IRT model that can offset the effect of unknown local dependence. The new model contains a confirmatory latent variable component, which measures the targeted latent traits, and a graphical component, which captures the local dependence. An efficient proximal algorithm is proposed for the parameter estimation and structure learning of the local dependence. This approach can substantially improve the measurement, given no prior information on the local dependence structure. The model can be applied to measure both a unidimensional latent trait and multidimensional latent traits.

The importance of regional models in assessing canine cancer incidences in Switzerland

PubMed Central

Leyk, Stefan; Brunsdon, Christopher; Graf, Ramona; Pospischil, Andreas; Fabrikant, Sara Irina

2018-01-01

Fitting canine cancer incidences through a conventional regression model assumes constant statistical relationships across the study area in estimating the model coefficients. However, it is often more realistic to consider that these relationships may vary over space. Such a condition, known as spatial non-stationarity, implies that the model coefficients need to be estimated locally. In these kinds of local models, the geographic scale, or spatial extent, employed for coefficient estimation may also have a pervasive influence. This is because important variations in the local model coefficients across geographic scales may impact the understanding of local relationships. In this study, we fitted canine cancer incidences across Swiss municipal units through multiple regional models. We computed diagnostic summaries across the different regional models, and contrasted them with the diagnostics of the conventional regression model, using value-by-alpha maps and scalograms. The results of this comparative assessment enabled us to identify variations in the goodness-of-fit and coefficient estimates. We detected spatially non-stationary relationships, in particular, for the variables related to biological risk factors. These variations in the model coefficients were more important at small geographic scales, making a case for the need to model canine cancer incidences locally in contrast to more conventional global approaches. However, we contend that prior to undertaking local modeling efforts, a deeper understanding of the effects of geographic scale is needed to better characterize and identify local model relationships. PMID:29652921

The importance of regional models in assessing canine cancer incidences in Switzerland.

PubMed

Boo, Gianluca; Leyk, Stefan; Brunsdon, Christopher; Graf, Ramona; Pospischil, Andreas; Fabrikant, Sara Irina

2018-01-01

Fitting canine cancer incidences through a conventional regression model assumes constant statistical relationships across the study area in estimating the model coefficients. However, it is often more realistic to consider that these relationships may vary over space. Such a condition, known as spatial non-stationarity, implies that the model coefficients need to be estimated locally. In these kinds of local models, the geographic scale, or spatial extent, employed for coefficient estimation may also have a pervasive influence. This is because important variations in the local model coefficients across geographic scales may impact the understanding of local relationships. In this study, we fitted canine cancer incidences across Swiss municipal units through multiple regional models. We computed diagnostic summaries across the different regional models, and contrasted them with the diagnostics of the conventional regression model, using value-by-alpha maps and scalograms. The results of this comparative assessment enabled us to identify variations in the goodness-of-fit and coefficient estimates. We detected spatially non-stationary relationships, in particular, for the variables related to biological risk factors. These variations in the model coefficients were more important at small geographic scales, making a case for the need to model canine cancer incidences locally in contrast to more conventional global approaches. However, we contend that prior to undertaking local modeling efforts, a deeper understanding of the effects of geographic scale is needed to better characterize and identify local model relationships.

The economic effect of a physician assistant or nurse practitioner in rural America.

PubMed

Eilrich, Fred C

2016-10-01

Revenues generated by physician assistants (PAs) and NPs in clinics and hospitals create employment opportunities and wages, salaries, and benefits for staff, which in turn are circulated throughout the local economy. An input-output model was used to estimate the direct and secondary effects of a rural primary care PA or NP on the community and surrounding area. This type of model explains how input/output from one sector of industry can be the output/input for another sector. Given two example scenarios, a rural PA or NP can have an employment effect of 4.4 local jobs and labor income of $280,476 from the clinic. The total effect to a community with a hospital increases to 18.5 local jobs and $940,892 of labor income.

[Variable selection methods combined with local linear embedding theory used for optimization of near infrared spectral quantitative models].

PubMed

Hao, Yong; Sun, Xu-Dong; Yang, Qiang

2012-12-01

Variables selection strategy combined with local linear embedding (LLE) was introduced for the analysis of complex samples by using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Three methods include Monte Carlo uninformation variable elimination (MCUVE), successive projections algorithm (SPA) and MCUVE connected with SPA were used for eliminating redundancy spectral variables. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) and LLE-PLSR were used for modeling complex samples. The results shown that MCUVE can both extract effective informative variables and improve the precision of models. Compared with PLSR models, LLE-PLSR models can achieve more accurate analysis results. MCUVE combined with LLE-PLSR is an effective modeling method for NIRS quantitative analysis.

Analytical solution for shear bands in cold-rolled 1018 steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voyiadjis, George Z.; Almasri, Amin H.; Faghihi, Danial; Palazotto, Anthony N.

2012-06-01

Cold-rolled 1018 (CR-1018) carbon steel has been well known for its susceptibility to adiabatic shear banding under dynamic loadings. Analysis of these localizations highly depends on the selection of the constitutive model. To deal with this issue, a constitutive model that takes temperature and strain rate effect into account is proposed. The model is motivated by two physical-based models: the Zerilli and Armstrong and the Voyiadjis and Abed models. This material model, however, incorporates a simple softening term that is capable of simulating the softening behavior of CR-1018 steel. Instability, localization, and evolution of adiabatic shear bands are discussed and presented graphically. In addition, the effect of hydrostatic pressure is illustrated.

Model-guided control of hippocampal discharges by local direct current stimulation.

PubMed

Mina, Faten; Modolo, Julien; Recher, Fanny; Dieuset, Gabriel; Biraben, Arnaud; Benquet, Pascal; Wendling, Fabrice

2017-05-10

Neurostimulation is an emerging treatment for drug-resistant epilepsies when surgery is contraindicated. Recent clinical results demonstrate significant seizure frequency reduction in epileptic patients, however the mechanisms underlying this therapeutic effect are largely unknown. This study aimed at gaining insights into local direct current stimulation (LDCS) effects on hyperexcitable tissue, by i) analyzing the impact of electrical currents locally applied on epileptogenic brain regions, and ii) characterizing currents achieving an "anti-epileptic" effect (excitability reduction). First, a neural mass model of hippocampal circuits was extended to accurately reproduce the features of hippocampal paroxysmal discharges (HPD) observed in a mouse model of epilepsy. Second, model predictions regarding current intensity and stimulation polarity were confronted to in vivo mice recordings during LDCS (n = 8). The neural mass model was able to generate realistic hippocampal discharges. Simulation of LDCS in the model pointed at a significant decrease of simulated HPD (in duration and occurrence rate, not in amplitude) for cathodal stimulation, which was successfully verified experimentally in epileptic mice. Despite the simplicity of our stimulation protocol, these results contribute to a better understanding of clinical benefits observed in epileptic patients with implanted neurostimulators. Our results also provide further support for model-guided design of neuromodulation therapy.

Modeling spatial invasion of Ebola in West Africa.

PubMed

D'Silva, Jeremy P; Eisenberg, Marisa C

2017-09-07

The 2014-2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa was the largest ever recorded, representing a fundamental shift in Ebola epidemiology with unprecedented spatiotemporal complexity. To understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of EVD in West Africa, we developed spatial transmission models using a gravity-model framework at both the national and district-level scales, which we used to compare effectiveness of local interventions (e.g. local quarantine) and long-range interventions (e.g. border-closures). The country-level gravity model captures the epidemic data, including multiple waves of initial epidemic growth observed in Guinea. We found that local-transmission reductions were most effective in Liberia, while long-range transmission was dominant in Sierra Leone. Both models illustrated that interventions in one region result in an amplified protective effect on other regions by preventing spatial transmission. In the district-level model, interventions in the strongest of these amplifying regions reduced total cases in all three countries by over 20%, in spite of the region itself generating only ∼0.1% of total cases. This model structure and associated intervention analysis provide information that can be used by public health policymakers to assist planning and response efforts for future epidemics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a Model System to Evaluate Local Recurrence in Osteosarcoma and Assessment of the Effects of Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2.

PubMed

Geller, David S; Singh, Michael Y; Zhang, Wendong; Gill, Jonathan; Roth, Michael E; Kim, Mimi Y; Xie, Xianhong; Singh, Christopher K; Dorfman, Howard D; Villanueva-Siles, Esperanza; Park, Amy; Piperdi, Sajida; Gorlick, Richard

2015-07-01

It is increasingly relevant to better define what constitutes an adequate surgical margin in an effort to improve reconstructive longevity and functional outcomes following osteosarcoma surgery. In addition, nonunion remains a challenging problem in some patients following allograft reconstruction. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) could enhance osseous union, but has been historically avoided due to concerns that it may promote tumor recurrence. An orthotopic xenograft murine model was utilized to describe the natural temporal course of osteosarcoma growth. Tumors were treated either with surgery alone, surgery and single-agent chemotherapy, or surgery and dual-agent chemotherapy to assess the relationship between surgical margin and local recurrence. The effect of BMP-2 on local recurrence was similarly assessed. Osteosarcoma tumor growth was categorized into reproducible phases. Margins greater than 997 μm resulted in local control following surgery alone. Margins greater than 36 μm resulted in local control following surgery and single-agent chemotherapy. Margins greater than 12 μm resulted in local control following surgery and dual-agent chemotherapy. The application of exogenous BMP-2 does not confer an increased risk of local recurrence. This model reliably reproduces the clinical, radiographic, and surgical conditions encountered in human osteosarcoma. It successfully incorporates relevant chemotherapy, further paralleling the human experience. Surgical margins required to achieve local control in osteosarcoma can be reduced using single-agent chemotherapy and further decreased using dual-agent chemotherapy. The application of BMP-2 does not increase local recurrence in this model. ©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.

Does integration matter? A holistic model for building community resilience in Pakistan.

PubMed

Kanta Kafle, Shesh

2017-01-01

This paper analyses an integrated communitybased risk reduction model adopted by the Pakistan Red Crescent. The paper analyses the model's constructs and definitions, and provides a conceptual framework and a set of practical recommendations for building community resilience. The study uses the process of outcome-based resilience index to assess the effectiveness of the approach. The results indicate that the integrated programming approach is an effective way to build community resilience as it offers a number of tangible and longlasting benefits, including effective and efficient service delivery, local ownership, sustainability of results, and improved local resilience with respect to the shock and stress associated with disaster. The paper also outlines a set of recommendations for the effective and efficient use of the model for building community resilience in Pakistan.

Effect of conductor geometry on source localization: Implications for epilepsy studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schlitt, H.; Heller, L.; Best, E.

1994-07-01

We shall discuss the effects of conductor geometry on source localization for applications in epilepsy studies. The most popular conductor model for clinical MEG studies is a homogeneous sphere. However, several studies have indicated that a sphere is a poor model for the head when the sources are deep, as is the case for epileptic foci in the mesial temporal lobe. We believe that replacing the spherical model with a more realistic one in the inverse fitting procedure will improve the accuracy of localizing epileptic sources. In order to include a realistic head model in the inverse problem, we mustmore » first solve the forward problem for the realistic conductor geometry. We create a conductor geometry model from MR images, and then solve the forward problem via a boundary integral equation for the electric potential due to a specified primary source. One the electric potential is known, the magnetic field can be calculated directly. The most time-intensive part of the problem is generating the conductor model; fortunately, this needs to be done only once for each patient. It takes little time to change the primary current and calculate a new magnetic field for use in the inverse fitting procedure. We present the results of a series of computer simulations in which we investigate the localization accuracy due to replacing the spherical model with the realistic head model in the inverse fitting procedure. The data to be fit consist of a computer generated magnetic field due to a known current dipole in a realistic head model, with added noise. We compare the localization errors when this field is fit using a spherical model to the fit using a realistic head model. Using a spherical model is comparable to what is usually done when localizing epileptic sources in humans, where the conductor model used in the inverse fitting procedure does not correspond to the actual head.« less

Exploring the Effect of Background Knowledge and Text Cohesion on Learning from Texts in Computer Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gasparinatou, Alexandra; Grigoriadou, Maria

2013-01-01

In this study, we examine the effect of background knowledge and local cohesion on learning from texts. The study is based on construction-integration model. Participants were 176 undergraduate students who read a Computer Science text. Half of the participants read a text of maximum local cohesion and the other a text of minimum local cohesion.…

A multi-agent quantum Monte Carlo model for charge transport: Application to organic field-effect transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, Thilo; Jäger, Christof M.; Jordan, Meredith J. T.; Clark, Timothy

2015-07-01

We have developed a multi-agent quantum Monte Carlo model to describe the spatial dynamics of multiple majority charge carriers during conduction of electric current in the channel of organic field-effect transistors. The charge carriers are treated by a neglect of diatomic differential overlap Hamiltonian using a lattice of hydrogen-like basis functions. The local ionization energy and local electron affinity defined previously map the bulk structure of the transistor channel to external potentials for the simulations of electron- and hole-conduction, respectively. The model is designed without a specific charge-transport mechanism like hopping- or band-transport in mind and does not arbitrarily localize charge. An electrode model allows dynamic injection and depletion of charge carriers according to source-drain voltage. The field-effect is modeled by using the source-gate voltage in a Metropolis-like acceptance criterion. Although the current cannot be calculated because the simulations have no time axis, using the number of Monte Carlo moves as pseudo-time gives results that resemble experimental I/V curves.

Local-world and cluster-growing weighted networks with controllable clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Chun-Xia; Tang, Min-Xuan; Tang, Hai-Qiang; Deng, Qiang-Qiang

2014-12-01

We constructed an improved weighted network model by introducing local-world selection mechanism and triangle coupling mechanism based on the traditional BBV model. The model gives power-law distributions of degree, strength and edge weight and presents the linear relationship both between the degree and strength and between the degree and the clustering coefficient. Particularly, the model is equipped with an ability to accelerate the speed increase of strength exceeding that of degree. Besides, the model is more sound and efficient in tuning clustering coefficient than the original BBV model. Finally, based on our improved model, we analyze the virus spread process and find that reducing the size of local-world has a great inhibited effect on virus spread.

Nonlinear structural joint model updating based on instantaneous characteristics of dynamic responses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zuo-Cai; Xin, Yu; Ren, Wei-Xin

2016-08-01

This paper proposes a new nonlinear joint model updating method for shear type structures based on the instantaneous characteristics of the decomposed structural dynamic responses. To obtain an accurate representation of a nonlinear system's dynamics, the nonlinear joint model is described as the nonlinear spring element with bilinear stiffness. The instantaneous frequencies and amplitudes of the decomposed mono-component are first extracted by the analytical mode decomposition (AMD) method. Then, an objective function based on the residuals of the instantaneous frequencies and amplitudes between the experimental structure and the nonlinear model is created for the nonlinear joint model updating. The optimal values of the nonlinear joint model parameters are obtained by minimizing the objective function using the simulated annealing global optimization method. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a single-story shear type structure subjected to earthquake and harmonic excitations is simulated as a numerical example. Then, a beam structure with multiple local nonlinear elements subjected to earthquake excitation is also simulated. The nonlinear beam structure is updated based on the global and local model using the proposed method. The results show that the proposed local nonlinear model updating method is more effective for structures with multiple local nonlinear elements. Finally, the proposed method is verified by the shake table test of a real high voltage switch structure. The accuracy of the proposed method is quantified both in numerical and experimental applications using the defined error indices. Both the numerical and experimental results have shown that the proposed method can effectively update the nonlinear joint model.

Biodiversity and ecosystem stability across scales in metacommunities.

PubMed

Wang, Shaopeng; Loreau, Michel

2016-05-01

Although diversity-stability relationships have been extensively studied in local ecosystems, the global biodiversity crisis calls for an improved understanding of these relationships in a spatial context. Here, we use a dynamical model of competitive metacommunities to study the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem variability across scales. We derive analytic relationships under a limiting case; these results are extended to more general cases with numerical simulations. Our model shows that, while alpha diversity decreases local ecosystem variability, beta diversity generally contributes to increasing spatial asynchrony among local ecosystems. Consequently, both alpha and beta diversity provide stabilising effects for regional ecosystems, through local and spatial insurance effects respectively. We further show that at the regional scale, the stabilising effect of biodiversity increases as spatial environmental correlation increases. Our findings have important implications for understanding the interactive effects of global environmental changes (e.g. environmental homogenisation) and biodiversity loss on ecosystem sustainability at large scales. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

The localized quantum vacuum field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dragoman, D.

2008-03-01

A model for the localized quantum vacuum is proposed in which the zero-point energy (ZPE) of the quantum electromagnetic field originates in energy- and momentum-conserving transitions of material systems from their ground state to an unstable state with negative energy. These transitions are accompanied by emissions and re-absorptions of real photons, which generate a localized quantum vacuum in the neighborhood of material systems. The model could help resolve the cosmological paradox associated with the ZPE of electromagnetic fields, while reclaiming quantum effects associated with quantum vacuum such as the Casimir effect and the Lamb shift. It also offers a new insight into the Zitterbewegung of material particles.

The structure of evaporating and combusting sprays: Measurements and predictions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shuen, J. S.; Solomon, A. S. P.; Faeth, F. M.

1983-01-01

The structure of particle-laden jets and nonevaporating and evaporating sprays was measured in order to evaluate models of these processes. Three models are being evaluated: (1) a locally homogeneous flow model, where slip between the phases is neglected and the flow is assumed to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium; (2) a deterministic separated flow model, where slip and finite interphase transport rates are considered but effects of particle/drop dispersion by turbulence and effects of turbulence on interphase transport rates are ignored; and (3) a stochastic separated flow model, where effects of interphase slip, turbulent dispersion and turbulent fluctuations are considered using random sampling for turbulence properties in conjunction with random-walk computations for particle motion. All three models use a k-e-g turbulence model. All testing and data reduction are completed for the particle laden jets. Mean and fluctuating velocities of the continuous phase and mean mixture fraction were measured in the evaporating sprays.

Cost-effectiveness of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy versus Radiofrequency Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Markov Modeling Study.

PubMed

Pollom, Erqi L; Lee, Kyueun; Durkee, Ben Y; Grade, Madeline; Mokhtari, Daniel A; Wahl, Daniel R; Feng, Mary; Kothary, Nishita; Koong, Albert C; Owens, Douglas K; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy; Chang, Daniel T

2017-05-01

Purpose To assess the cost-effectiveness of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) versus radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for patients with inoperable localized hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are eligible for both SBRT and RFA. Materials and Methods A decision-analytic Markov model was developed for patients with inoperable, localized HCC who were eligible for both RFA and SBRT to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the following treatment strategies: (a) SBRT as initial treatment followed by SBRT for local progression (SBRT-SBRT), (b) RFA followed by RFA for local progression (RFA-RFA), (c) SBRT followed by RFA for local progression (SBRT-RFA), and (d) RFA followed by SBRT for local progression (RFA-SBRT). Probabilities of disease progression, treatment characteristics, and mortality were derived from published studies. Outcomes included health benefits expressed as discounted quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), costs in U.S. dollars, and cost-effectiveness expressed as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the robustness of the findings. Results In the base case, SBRT-SBRT yielded the most QALYs (1.565) and cost $197 557. RFA-SBRT yielded 1.558 QALYs and cost $193 288. SBRT-SBRT was not cost-effective, at $558 679 per QALY gained relative to RFA-SBRT. RFA-SBRT was the preferred strategy, because RFA-RFA and SBRT-RFA were less effective and more costly. In all evaluated scenarios, SBRT was preferred as salvage therapy for local progression after RFA. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100 000 per QALY gained, RFA-SBRT was preferred in 65.8% of simulations. Conclusion SBRT for initial treatment of localized, inoperable HCC is not cost-effective. However, SBRT is the preferred salvage therapy for local progression after RFA. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Cost-effectiveness of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy versus Radiofrequency Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Markov Modeling Study

PubMed Central

Lee, Kyueun; Durkee, Ben Y.; Grade, Madeline; Mokhtari, Daniel A.; Wahl, Daniel R.; Feng, Mary; Kothary, Nishita; Koong, Albert C.; Owens, Douglas K.; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy; Chang, Daniel T.

2017-01-01

Purpose To assess the cost-effectiveness of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) versus radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for patients with inoperable localized hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are eligible for both SBRT and RFA. Materials and Methods A decision-analytic Markov model was developed for patients with inoperable, localized HCC who were eligible for both RFA and SBRT to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the following treatment strategies: (a) SBRT as initial treatment followed by SBRT for local progression (SBRT-SBRT), (b) RFA followed by RFA for local progression (RFA-RFA), (c) SBRT followed by RFA for local progression (SBRT-RFA), and (d) RFA followed by SBRT for local progression (RFA-SBRT). Probabilities of disease progression, treatment characteristics, and mortality were derived from published studies. Outcomes included health benefits expressed as discounted quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), costs in U.S. dollars, and cost-effectiveness expressed as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the robustness of the findings. Results In the base case, SBRT-SBRT yielded the most QALYs (1.565) and cost $197 557. RFA-SBRT yielded 1.558 QALYs and cost $193 288. SBRT-SBRT was not cost-effective, at $558 679 per QALY gained relative to RFA-SBRT. RFA-SBRT was the preferred strategy, because RFA-RFA and SBRT-RFA were less effective and more costly. In all evaluated scenarios, SBRT was preferred as salvage therapy for local progression after RFA. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100 000 per QALY gained, RFA-SBRT was preferred in 65.8% of simulations. Conclusion SBRT for initial treatment of localized, inoperable HCC is not cost-effective. However, SBRT is the preferred salvage therapy for local progression after RFA. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article. PMID:28045603

2-D to 3-D global/local finite element analysis of cross-ply composite laminates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, D. Muheim; Griffin, O. Hayden, Jr.

1990-01-01

An example of two-dimensional to three-dimensional global/local finite element analysis of a laminated composite plate with a hole is presented. The 'zoom' technique of global/local analysis is used, where displacements of the global/local interface from the two-dimensional global model are applied to the edges of the three-dimensional local model. Three different hole diameters, one, three, and six inches, are considered in order to compare the effect of hole size on the three-dimensional stress state around the hole. In addition, three different stacking sequences are analyzed for the six inch hole case in order to study the effect of stacking sequence. The existence of a 'critical' hole size, where the interlaminar stresses are maximum, is indicated. Dispersion of plies at the same angle, as opposed to clustering, is found to reduce the magnitude of some interlaminar stress components and increase others.

RSS Fingerprint Based Indoor Localization Using Sparse Representation with Spatio-Temporal Constraint

PubMed Central

Piao, Xinglin; Zhang, Yong; Li, Tingshu; Hu, Yongli; Liu, Hao; Zhang, Ke; Ge, Yun

2016-01-01

The Received Signal Strength (RSS) fingerprint-based indoor localization is an important research topic in wireless network communications. Most current RSS fingerprint-based indoor localization methods do not explore and utilize the spatial or temporal correlation existing in fingerprint data and measurement data, which is helpful for improving localization accuracy. In this paper, we propose an RSS fingerprint-based indoor localization method by integrating the spatio-temporal constraints into the sparse representation model. The proposed model utilizes the inherent spatial correlation of fingerprint data in the fingerprint matching and uses the temporal continuity of the RSS measurement data in the localization phase. Experiments on the simulated data and the localization tests in the real scenes show that the proposed method improves the localization accuracy and stability effectively compared with state-of-the-art indoor localization methods. PMID:27827882

The Effectiveness of Local Culture-Based Mathematical Heuristic-KR Learning towards Enhancing Student's Creative Thinking Skill

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tandiseru, Selvi Rajuaty

2015-01-01

The problem in this research is the lack of creative thinking skills of students. One of the learning models that is expected to enhance student's creative thinking skill is the local culture-based mathematical heuristic-KR learning model (LC-BMHLM). Heuristic-KR is a learning model which was introduced by Krulik and Rudnick (1995) that is the…

Mutual optical intensity propagation through non-ideal mirrors

DOE PAGES

Meng, Xiangyu; Shi, Xianbo; Wang, Yong; ...

2017-08-18

The mutual optical intensity (MOI) model is extended to include the propagation of partially coherent radiation through non-ideal mirrors. The propagation of the MOI from the incident to the exit plane of the mirror is realised by local ray tracing. The effects of figure errors can be expressed as phase shifts obtained by either the phase projection approach or the direct path length method. Using the MOI model, the effects of figure errors are studied for diffraction-limited cases using elliptical cylinder mirrors. Figure errors with low spatial frequencies can vary the intensity distribution, redistribute the local coherence function and distortmore » the wavefront, but have no effect on the global degree of coherence. The MOI model is benchmarked againstHYBRIDand the multi-electronSynchrotron Radiation Workshop(SRW) code. The results show that the MOI model gives accurate results under different coherence conditions of the beam. Other than intensity profiles, the MOI model can also provide the wavefront and the local coherence function at any location along the beamline. The capability of tuning the trade-off between accuracy and efficiency makes the MOI model an ideal tool for beamline design and optimization.« less

Potential implications of the bystander effect on TCP and EUD when considering target volume dose heterogeneity.

PubMed

Balderson, Michael J; Kirkby, Charles

2015-01-01

In light of in vitro evidence suggesting that radiation-induced bystander effects may enhance non-local cell killing, there is potential for impact on radiotherapy treatment planning paradigms such as the goal of delivering a uniform dose throughout the clinical target volume (CTV). This work applies a bystander effect model to calculate equivalent uniform dose (EUD) and tumor control probability (TCP) for external beam prostate treatment and compares the results with a more common model where local response is dictated exclusively by local absorbed dose. The broad assumptions applied in the bystander effect model are intended to place an upper limit on the extent of the results in a clinical context. EUD and TCP of a prostate cancer target volume under conditions of increasing dose heterogeneity were calculated using two models: One incorporating bystander effects derived from previously published in vitro bystander data ( McMahon et al. 2012 , 2013a); and one using a common linear-quadratic (LQ) response that relies exclusively on local absorbed dose. Dose through the CTV was modelled as a normal distribution, where the degree of heterogeneity was then dictated by changing the standard deviation (SD). Also, a representative clinical dose distribution was examined as cold (low dose) sub-volumes were systematically introduced. The bystander model suggests a moderate degree of dose heterogeneity throughout a target volume will yield as good or better outcome compared to a uniform dose in terms of EUD and TCP. For a typical intermediate risk prostate prescription of 78 Gy over 39 fractions maxima in EUD and TCP as a function of increasing SD occurred at SD ∼ 5 Gy. The plots only dropped below the uniform dose values for SD ∼ 10 Gy, almost 13% of the prescribed dose. Small, but potentially significant differences in the outcome metrics between the models were identified in the clinically-derived dose distribution as cold sub-volumes were introduced. In terms of EUD and TCP, the bystander model demonstrates the potential to deviate from the common local LQ model predictions as dose heterogeneity through a prostate CTV varies. The results suggest, at least in a limiting sense, the potential for allowing some degree of dose heterogeneity within a CTV, although further investigation of the assumptions of the bystander model are warranted.

Modeling non-locality of plasmonic excitations with a fictitious film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Jiantao; Shvonski, Alexander; Kempa, Krzysztof

Non-local effects, requiring a wavevector (q) dependent dielectric response are becoming increasingly important in studies of plasmonic and metamaterial structures. The phenomenological hydrodynamic approximation (HDA) is the simplest, and most often used model, but it often fails. We show that the d-function formalism, exact to first order in q, is a powerful and simple-to-use alternative. Recently, we developed a mapping of the d-function formalism into a purely local fictitious film. This geometric mapping allows for non-local extensions of any local calculation scheme, including FDTD. We demonstrate here, that such mapped FDTD simulation of metallic nanoclusters agrees very well with various experiments.

Evaluation of a Local Anesthesia Simulation Model with Dental Students as Novice Clinicians.

PubMed

Lee, Jessica S; Graham, Roseanna; Bassiur, Jennifer P; Lichtenthal, Richard M

2015-12-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of a local anesthesia (LA) simulation model in a facilitated small group setting before dental students administered an inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) for the first time. For this pilot study, 60 dental students transitioning from preclinical to clinical education were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (N=30) that participated in a small group session using the simulation model or a control group (N=30). After administering local anesthesia for the first time, students in both groups were given questionnaires regarding levels of preparedness and confidence when administering an IANB and level of anesthesia effectiveness and pain when receiving an IANB. Students in the experimental group exhibited a positive difference on all six questions regarding preparedness and confidence when administering LA to another student. One of these six questions ("I was prepared in administering local anesthesia for the first time") showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). Students who received LA from students who practiced on the simulation model also experienced fewer post-injection complications one day after receiving the IANB, including a statistically significant reduction in trismus. No statistically significant difference was found in level of effectiveness of the IANB or perceived levels of pain between the two groups. The results of this pilot study suggest that using a local anesthesia simulation model may be beneficial in increasing a dental student's level of comfort prior to administering local anesthesia for the first time.

Effects of micro-structure on aerodynamics of Coccinella septempunctata elytra (ladybird) in forward flight as assessed via electron microscopy.

PubMed

Xiang, Jinwu; Liu, Kai; Li, Daochun; Du, Jianxun

2017-11-01

The effects of micro-structure on aerodynamics of Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) elytra in forward flight were investigated. The micro-structure was examined by a scanning electron microscope and a digital microscope. Based on the experimental results, five elytron models were constructed to separately investigate the effects of the camber and the local corrugation in both leading edge and trailing edge on aerodynamics. Computational fluid dynamic simulations of five elytron models were conducted by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the Reynolds number of 245. The results show that camber and the local corrugation in the leading edge play significant roles in improving the aerodynamic performance, while the local corrugation in the trailing edge has little effect on aerodynamics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioral and modeling studies of sound localization in cats: effects of stimulus level and duration

PubMed Central

Ruhland, Janet L.; Yin, Tom C. T.; Tollin, Daniel J.

2013-01-01

Sound localization accuracy in elevation can be affected by sound spectrum alteration. Correspondingly, any stimulus manipulation that causes a change in the peripheral representation of the spectrum may degrade localization ability in elevation. The present study examined the influence of sound duration and level on localization performance in cats with the head unrestrained. Two cats were trained using operant conditioning to indicate the apparent location of a sound via gaze shift, which was measured with a search-coil technique. Overall, neither sound level nor duration had a notable effect on localization accuracy in azimuth, except at near-threshold levels. In contrast, localization accuracy in elevation improved as sound duration increased, and sound level also had a large effect on localization in elevation. For short-duration noise, the performance peaked at intermediate levels and deteriorated at low and high levels; for long-duration noise, this “negative level effect” at high levels was not observed. Simulations based on an auditory nerve model were used to explain the above observations and to test several hypotheses. Our results indicated that neither the flatness of sound spectrum (before the sound reaches the inner ear) nor the peripheral adaptation influences spectral coding at the periphery for localization in elevation, whereas neural computation that relies on “multiple looks” of the spectral analysis is critical in explaining the effect of sound duration, but not level. The release of negative level effect observed for long-duration sound could not be explained at the periphery and, therefore, is likely a result of processing at higher centers. PMID:23657278

Local redistribution of blood under the effect of fixation stress against a background of hypokinesia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kovalev, O. A.; Lysak, V. F.; Severovostokova, V. I.; Shermetevskaya, S. K.

1980-01-01

Fixation stress was used as a model of emotional disturbance. The effect of previous restrictions on mobility on the local redistribution of blood resulting from fixation stress was examined. Disturbances in carbohydrate which result from prolonged hypokinesia was studied. Radioactivity was used to determine the local redistribution of blood. Modified factor analysis was used to study the results of the experiment.

Duality in Power-Law Localization in Disordered One-Dimensional Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, X.; Kravtsov, V. E.; Shlyapnikov, G. V.; Santos, L.

2018-03-01

The transport of excitations between pinned particles in many physical systems may be mapped to single-particle models with power-law hopping, 1 /ra . For randomly spaced particles, these models present an effective peculiar disorder that leads to surprising localization properties. We show that in one-dimensional systems almost all eigenstates (except for a few states close to the ground state) are power-law localized for any value of a >0 . Moreover, we show that our model is an example of a new universality class of models with power-law hopping, characterized by a duality between systems with long-range hops (a <1 ) and short-range hops (a >1 ), in which the wave function amplitude falls off algebraically with the same power γ from the localization center.

Supernovae observations in a ``meatball'' universe with a local void

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kainulainen, Kimmo; Marra, Valerio

2009-12-01

We study the impact of cosmic inhomogeneities on the interpretation of observations. We build an inhomogeneous universe model without dark energy that can confront supernova data and yet is reasonably well compatible with the Copernican principle. Our model combines a relatively small local void, that gives apparent acceleration at low redshifts, with a meatball model that gives sizable lensing (dimming) at high redshifts. Together these two elements, which focus on different effects of voids on the data, allow the model to mimic the concordance model.

Locally refined block-centred finite-difference groundwater models: Evaluation of parameter sensitivity and the consequences for inverse modelling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mehl, S.; Hill, M.C.

2002-01-01

Models with local grid refinement, as often required in groundwater models, pose special problems for model calibration. This work investigates the calculation of sensitivities and the performance of regression methods using two existing and one new method of grid refinement. The existing local grid refinement methods considered are: (a) a variably spaced grid in which the grid spacing becomes smaller near the area of interest and larger where such detail is not needed, and (b) telescopic mesh refinement (TMR), which uses the hydraulic heads or fluxes of a regional model to provide the boundary conditions for a locally refined model. The new method has a feedback between the regional and local grids using shared nodes, and thereby, unlike the TMR methods, balances heads and fluxes at the interfacing boundary. Results for sensitivities are compared for the three methods and the effect of the accuracy of sensitivity calculations are evaluated by comparing inverse modelling results. For the cases tested, results indicate that the inaccuracies of the sensitivities calculated using the TMR approach can cause the inverse model to converge to an incorrect solution.

Locally refined block-centered finite-difference groundwater models: Evaluation of parameter sensitivity and the consequences for inverse modelling and predictions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mehl, S.; Hill, M.C.

2002-01-01

Models with local grid refinement, as often required in groundwater models, pose special problems for model calibration. This work investigates the calculation of sensitivities and performance of regression methods using two existing and one new method of grid refinement. The existing local grid refinement methods considered are (1) a variably spaced grid in which the grid spacing becomes smaller near the area of interest and larger where such detail is not needed and (2) telescopic mesh refinement (TMR), which uses the hydraulic heads or fluxes of a regional model to provide the boundary conditions for a locally refined model. The new method has a feedback between the regional and local grids using shared nodes, and thereby, unlike the TMR methods, balances heads and fluxes at the interfacing boundary. Results for sensitivities are compared for the three methods and the effect of the accuracy of sensitivity calculations are evaluated by comparing inverse modelling results. For the cases tested, results indicate that the inaccuracies of the sensitivities calculated using the TMR approach can cause the inverse model to converge to an incorrect solution.

EUV local CDU healing performance and modeling capability towards 5nm node

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jee, Tae Kwon; Timoshkov, Vadim; Choi, Peter; Rio, David; Tsai, Yu-Cheng; Yaegashi, Hidetami; Koike, Kyohei; Fonseca, Carlos; Schoofs, Stijn

2017-10-01

Both local variability and optical proximity correction (OPC) errors are big contributors to the edge placement error (EPE) budget which is closely related to the device yield. The post-litho contact hole healing will be demonstrated to meet after-etch local variability specifications using a low dose, 30mJ/cm2 dose-to-size, positive tone developed (PTD) resist with relevant throughput in high volume manufacturing (HVM). The total local variability of the node 5nm (N5) contact holes will be characterized in terms of local CD uniformity (LCDU), local placement error (LPE), and contact edge roughness (CER) using a statistical methodology. The CD healing process has complex etch proximity effects, so the OPC prediction accuracy is challenging to meet EPE requirements for the N5. Thus, the prediction accuracy of an after-etch model will be investigated and discussed using ASML Tachyon OPC model.

Numerical modeling of nonlinear modulation of coda wave interferometry in a multiple scattering medium with the presence of a localized micro-cracked zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Guangzhi; Pageot, Damien; Legland, Jean-Baptiste; Abraham, Odile; Chekroun, Mathieu; Tournat, Vincent

2018-04-01

The spectral element method is used to perform a parametric sensitivity study of the nonlinear coda wave interferometry (NCWI) method in a homogeneous sample with localized damage [1]. The influence of a strong pump wave on a localized nonlinear damage zone is modeled as modifications to the elastic properties of an effective damage zone (EDZ), depending on the pump wave amplitude. The local change of the elastic modulus and the attenuation coefficient have been shown to vary linearly with respect to the excitation amplitude of the pump wave as in previous experimental studies of Zhang et al. [2]. In this study, the boundary conditions of the cracks, i.e. clapping effects is taken into account in the modeling of the damaged zone. The EDZ is then modeled with random cracks of random orientations, new parametric studies are established to model the pump wave influence with two new parameters: the change of the crack length and the crack density. The numerical results reported constitute another step towards quantification and forecasting of the nonlinear acoustic response of a cracked material, which proves to be necessary for quantitative non-destructive evaluation.

The role of local stress perturbation on the simultaneous opening of orthogonal fractures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boersma, Quinten; Hardebol, Nico; Barnhoorn, Auke; Bertotti, Giovanni; Drury, Martyn

2016-04-01

Orthogonal fracture networks (ladder-like networks) are arrangements that are commonly observed in outcrop studies. They form a particularly dense and well connected network which can play an important role in the effective permeability of tight hydrocarbon or geothermal reservoirs. One issue is the extent to which both the long systematic and smaller cross fractures can be simultaneously critically stressed under a given stress condition. Fractures in an orthogonal network form by opening mode-I displacements in which the main component is separation of the two fracture walls. This opening is driven by effective tensile stresses as the smallest principle stress acting perpendicular to the fracture wall, which accords with linear elastic fracture mechanics. What has been well recognized in previous field and modelling studies is how both the systematic fractures and perpendicular cross fractures require the minimum principle stress to act perpendicular to the fracture wall. Thus, these networks either require a rotation of the regional stress field or local perturbations in stress field. Using a mechanical finite element modelling software, a geological case of layer perpendicular systematic mode I opening fractures is generated. New in our study is that we not only address tensile stresses at the boundary, but also address models using pore fluid pressure. The local stress in between systematic fractures is then assessed in order to derive the probability and orientation of micro crack propagation using the theory of sub critical crack growth and Griffith's theory. Under effective tensile conditions, the results indicate that in between critically spaced systematic fractures, local effective tensile stresses flip. Therefore the orientation of the least principle stress will rotate 90°, hence an orthogonal fracture is more likely to form. Our new findings for models with pore fluid pressures instead of boundary tension show that the magnitude of effective tension in between systematic fractures is reduced but does not remove the occurring stress flip. However, putting effective tension on the boundaries will give overestimates in the reduction of the local effective tensile stress perpendicular to the larger systematic fractures and therefore the magnitude of the stress flip. In conclusion, both model approaches indicate that orthogonal fractures can form while experiencing one regional stress regime. This also means that under these specific loading and locally perturbed stress conditions both sets of orthogonal fractures stay open and can provide a pathway for fluid circulation.

How State and Local Interagency Partnerships Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rachal, Patricia, Ed.

1996-01-01

This newsletter theme issue describes a state-local team partnership model for interagency transition efforts for young adults with deaf-blindness. Excepts from a presentation by Jane M. Everson identify key aspects and characteristics of effective state and local interagency partnerships. These include: (1) strategies for initiating and…

Coarse-grained models using local-density potentials optimized with the relative entropy: Application to implicit solvation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanyal, Tanmoy; Shell, M. Scott, E-mail: shell@engineering.ucsb.edu

Bottom-up multiscale techniques are frequently used to develop coarse-grained (CG) models for simulations at extended length and time scales but are often limited by a compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy. The conventional approach to CG nonbonded interactions uses pair potentials which, while computationally efficient, can neglect the inherently multibody contributions of the local environment of a site to its energy, due to degrees of freedom that were coarse-grained out. This effect often causes the CG potential to depend strongly on the overall system density, composition, or other properties, which limits its transferability to states other than the one atmore » which it was parameterized. Here, we propose to incorporate multibody effects into CG potentials through additional nonbonded terms, beyond pair interactions, that depend in a mean-field manner on local densities of different atomic species. This approach is analogous to embedded atom and bond-order models that seek to capture multibody electronic effects in metallic systems. We show that the relative entropy coarse-graining framework offers a systematic route to parameterizing such local density potentials. We then characterize this approach in the development of implicit solvation strategies for interactions between model hydrophobes in an aqueous environment.« less

Damage identification using inverse methods.

PubMed

Friswell, Michael I

2007-02-15

This paper gives an overview of the use of inverse methods in damage detection and location, using measured vibration data. Inverse problems require the use of a model and the identification of uncertain parameters of this model. Damage is often local in nature and although the effect of the loss of stiffness may require only a small number of parameters, the lack of knowledge of the location means that a large number of candidate parameters must be included. This paper discusses a number of problems that exist with this approach to health monitoring, including modelling error, environmental effects, damage localization and regularization.

Response of an eddy-permitting ocean model to the assimilation of sparse in situ data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jian-Guo; Killworth, Peter D.; Smeed, David A.

2003-04-01

The response of an eddy-permitting ocean model to changes introduced by data assimilation is studied when the available in situ data are sparse in both space and time (typical for the majority of the ocean). Temperature and salinity (T&S) profiles from the WOCE upper ocean thermal data set were assimilated into a primitive equation ocean model over the North Atlantic, using a simple nudging scheme with a time window of about 2 days and a horizontal spatial radius of about 1°. When data are sparse the model returns to its unassimilated behavior, locally "forgetting" or rejecting the assimilation, on timescales determined by the local advection and diffusion. Increasing the spatial weighting radius effectively reduces both processes and hence lengthens the model restoring time (and with it, the impact of assimilation). Increasing the nudging factor enhances the assimilation effect but has little effect on the model restoring time.

Analytical model for local scour prediction around hydrokinetic turbine foundations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musa, M.; Heisel, M.; Hill, C.; Guala, M.

2017-12-01

Marine and Hydrokinetic renewable energy is an emerging sustainable and secure technology which produces clean energy harnessing water currents from mostly tidal and fluvial waterways. Hydrokinetic turbines are typically anchored at the bottom of the channel, which can be erodible or non-erodible. Recent experiments demonstrated the interactions between operating turbines and an erodible surface with sediment transport, resulting in a remarkable localized erosion-deposition pattern significantly larger than those observed by static in-river construction such as bridge piers, etc. Predicting local scour geometry at the base of hydrokinetic devices is extremely important during foundation design, installation, operation, and maintenance (IO&M), and long-term structural integrity. An analytical modeling framework is proposed applying the phenomenological theory of turbulence to the flow structures that promote the scouring process at the base of a turbine. The evolution of scour is directly linked to device operating conditions through the turbine drag force, which is inferred to locally dictate the energy dissipation rate in the scour region. The predictive model is validated using experimental data obtained at the University of Minnesota's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL), covering two sediment mobility regimes (clear water and live bed), different turbine designs, hydraulic parameters, grain size distribution and bedform types. The model is applied to a potential prototype scale deployment in the lower Mississippi River, demonstrating its practical relevance and endorsing the feasibility of hydrokinetic energy power plants in large sandy rivers. Multi-turbine deployments are further studied experimentally by monitoring both local and non-local geomorphic effects introduced by a twelve turbine staggered array model installed in a wide channel at SAFL. Local scour behind each turbine is well captured by the theoretical predictive model. However, multi-turbine configurations introduce subtle large-scale effects that deepen local scour within the first two rows of the array and develop spatially as a two-dimensional oscillation of the mean bed downstream of the entire array.

Modeling Effects of Local Extinctions on Culture Change and Diversity in the Paleolithic

PubMed Central

Premo, L. S.; Kuhn, Steven L.

2010-01-01

The persistence of early stone tool technologies has puzzled archaeologists for decades. Cognitively based explanations, which presume either lack of ability to innovate or extreme conformism, do not account for the totality of the empirical patterns. Following recent research, this study explores the effects of demographic factors on rates of culture change and diversification. We investigate whether the appearance of stability in early Paleolithic technologies could result from frequent extinctions of local subpopulations within a persistent metapopulation. A spatially explicit agent-based model was constructed to test the influence of local extinction rate on three general cultural patterns that archaeologists might observe in the material record: total diversity, differentiation among spatially defined groups, and the rate of cumulative change. The model shows that diversity, differentiation, and the rate of cumulative cultural change would be strongly affected by local extinction rates, in some cases mimicking the results of conformist cultural transmission. The results have implications for understanding spatial and temporal patterning in ancient material culture. PMID:21179418

Computer simulation of the linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities of p-nitroaniline in cyclohexane, 1,4-dioxane, and tetrahydrofuran in quadrupolar approximation. II. Local field effects and optical susceptibilitities.

PubMed

Reis, H; Papadopoulos, M G; Grzybowski, A

2006-09-21

This is the second part of a study to elucidate the local field effects on the nonlinear optical properties of p-nitroaniline (pNA) in three solvents of different multipolar character, that is, cyclohexane (CH), 1,4-dioxane (DI), and tetrahydrofuran (THF), employing a discrete description of the solutions. By the use of liquid structure information from molecular dynamics simulations and molecular properties computed by high-level ab initio methods, the local field and local field gradients on p-nitroaniline and the solvent molecules are computed in quadrupolar approximation. To validate the simulations and the induction model, static and dynamic (non)linear properties of the pure solvents are also computed. With the exception of the static dielectric constant of pure THF, a good agreement between computed and experimental refractive indices, dielectric constants, and third harmonic generation signals is obtained for the solvents. For the solutions, it is found that multipole moments up to two orders higher than quadrupole have a negligible influence on the local fields on pNA, if a simple distribution model is employed for the electric properties of pNA. Quadrupole effects are found to be nonnegligible in all three solvents but are especially pronounced in the 1,4-dioxane solvent, in which the local fields are similar to those in THF, although the dielectric constant of DI is 2.2 and that of the simulated THF is 5.4. The electric-field-induced second harmonic generation (EFISH) signal and the hyper-Rayleigh scattering signal of pNA in the solutions computed with the local field are in good to fair agreement with available experimental results. This confirms the effect of the "dioxane anomaly" also on nonlinear optical properties. Predictions based on an ellipsoidal Onsager model as applied by experimentalists are in very good agreement with the discrete model predictions. This is in contrast to a recent discrete reaction field calculation of pNA in 1,4-dioxane, which found that the predicted first hyperpolarizability of pNA deviated strongly from the predictions obtained using Onsager-Lorentz local field factors.

Local convection-enhanced delivery of an anti-CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody induces antitumor effects in mouse glioma models.

PubMed

Shoji, Takuhiro; Saito, Ryuta; Chonan, Masashi; Shibahara, Ichiyo; Sato, Aya; Kanamori, Masayuki; Sonoda, Yukihiko; Kondo, Toru; Ishii, Naoto; Tominaga, Teiji

2016-08-01

Glioblastoma is one of the most malignant brain tumors in adults and has a dismal prognosis. In a previous report, we reported that CD40, a TNF-R-related cell surface receptor, and its ligand CD40L were associated with glioma outcomes. Here we attempted to activate CD40 signaling in the tumor and determine if it exerted therapeutic efficacy. CD40 expression was examined in 3 mouse glioma cell lines (GL261, NSCL61, and bRiTs-G3) and 5 human glioma cell lines (U87, U251, U373, T98, and A172). NSCL61 and bRiTs-G3, as glioma stem cells, also expressed the glioma stem cell markers MELK and CD44. In vitro, we demonstrated direct antitumor effects of an anti-CD40 agonistic monoclonal antibody (FGK45) against the cell lines. The efficacy of FGK45 was examined by local convection-enhanced delivery of the monoclonal antibody against each glioma model. CD40 was expressed in all mouse and human cell lines tested and was found at the cell membrane of each of the 3 mouse cell lines. FGK45 administration induced significant, direct antitumor effects in vitro. The local delivery of FGK45 significantly prolonged survival compared with controls in the NSCL61 and bRiTs-G3 models, but the effect was not significant in the GL261 model. Increases in apoptosis and CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell infiltration were observed in the bRiTs-G3 model after FGK45 treatment. Local delivery of FGK45 significantly prolonged survival in glioma stem cell models. Thus, local delivery of this monoclonal antibody is promising for immunotherapy against gliomas. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A Transport Model for Non-Local Heating of Electrons in ICP Reactors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, C. H.; Bose, Deepak; Arnold, James O. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

A new model has been developed for non-local heating of electrons in ICP reactors, based on a hydrodynamic approach. The model has been derived using the electron momentum conservation in azimuthal direction with electromagnetic and frictional forces respectively as driving force and damper of harmonic oscillatory motion of electrons. The resulting transport equations include the convection of azimuthal electron momentum in radial and axial directions, thereby accounting for the non-local effects. The azimuthal velocity of electrons and the resulting electrical current are coupled to the Maxwell's relations, thus forming a self-consistent model for non-local heating. This model is being implemented along with a set of Navier-Stokes equations for plasma dynamics and gas flow to simulate low-pressure (few mTorr's) ICP discharges. Characteristics of nitrogen plasma in a TCP 300mm etch reactor is being studied. The results will be compared against the available Langmuir probe measurements.

Non local-thermodynamical-equilibrium effects in the simulation of laser-produced plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klapisch, M.; Bar-Shalom, A.; Oreg, J.; Colombant, D.

1998-05-01

Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) breaks down in directly or indirectly driven laser plasmas because of sharp gradients, energy deposition, etc. For modeling non-LTE effects in hydrodynamical simulations, Busquet's model [Phys. Fluids B 5, 4191 (1993)] is very convenient and efficient. It uses off-line generated LTE opacities and equation of states via an effective, radiation-dependent ionization temperature Tz. An overview of the model is given. The results are compared with an elaborate collisional radiative model based on superconfigurations. The agreements for average charge Z* and opacities are surprisingly good, even more so when the plasma is immersed in a radiation field. Some remaining discrepancy at low density is attributed to dielectronic recombination. Improvement appears possible, especially for emissivities, because the concept of ionization temperature seems to be validated.

Using local multiplicity to improve effect estimation from a hypothesis-generating pharmacogenetics study.

PubMed

Zou, W; Ouyang, H

2016-02-01

We propose a multiple estimation adjustment (MEA) method to correct effect overestimation due to selection bias from a hypothesis-generating study (HGS) in pharmacogenetics. MEA uses a hierarchical Bayesian approach to model individual effect estimates from maximal likelihood estimation (MLE) in a region jointly and shrinks them toward the regional effect. Unlike many methods that model a fixed selection scheme, MEA capitalizes on local multiplicity independent of selection. We compared mean square errors (MSEs) in simulated HGSs from naive MLE, MEA and a conditional likelihood adjustment (CLA) method that model threshold selection bias. We observed that MEA effectively reduced MSE from MLE on null effects with or without selection, and had a clear advantage over CLA on extreme MLE estimates from null effects under lenient threshold selection in small samples, which are common among 'top' associations from a pharmacogenetics HGS.

Multilevel Analysis of the Effects of Antidiscrimination Policies on Earnings by Sexual Orientation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klawitter, Marieka

2011-01-01

This study uses the 2000 U.S. Census data to assess the impact of antidiscrimination policies for sexual orientation on earnings for gays and lesbians. Using a multilevel model allows estimation of the effects of state and local policies on earnings and of variation in the effects of sexual orientation across local labor markets. The results…

Dispersal rates affect species composition in metacommunities of Sarracenia purpurea inquilines.

PubMed

Kneitel, Jamie M; Miller, Thomas E

2003-08-01

Dispersal among local communities can have a variety of effects on species composition and diversity at local and regional scales. Local conditions (e.g., resource and predator densities) can have independent effects, as well as interact with dispersal, to alter these patterns. Based on metacommunity models, we predicted that local diversity would show a unimodal relationship with dispersal frequency. We manipulated dispersal frequencies, resource levels, and the presence of predators (mosquito larvae) among communities found in the water-filled leaves of the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. Diversity and abundance of species of the middle trophic level, protozoa and rotifers, were measured. Increased dispersal frequencies significantly increased regional species richness and protozoan abundance while decreasing the variance among local communities. Dispersal frequency interacted with predation at the local community scale to produce patterns of diversity consistent with the model. When predators were absent, we found a unimodal relationship between dispersal frequency and diversity, and when predators were present, there was a flat relationship. Intermediate dispersal frequencies maintained some species in the inquiline communities by offsetting extinction rates. Local community composition and the degree of connectivity between communities are both important for understanding species diversity patterns at local and regional scales.

Local polynomial estimation of heteroscedasticity in a multivariate linear regression model and its applications in economics.

PubMed

Su, Liyun; Zhao, Yanyong; Yan, Tianshun; Li, Fenglan

2012-01-01

Multivariate local polynomial fitting is applied to the multivariate linear heteroscedastic regression model. Firstly, the local polynomial fitting is applied to estimate heteroscedastic function, then the coefficients of regression model are obtained by using generalized least squares method. One noteworthy feature of our approach is that we avoid the testing for heteroscedasticity by improving the traditional two-stage method. Due to non-parametric technique of local polynomial estimation, it is unnecessary to know the form of heteroscedastic function. Therefore, we can improve the estimation precision, when the heteroscedastic function is unknown. Furthermore, we verify that the regression coefficients is asymptotic normal based on numerical simulations and normal Q-Q plots of residuals. Finally, the simulation results and the local polynomial estimation of real data indicate that our approach is surely effective in finite-sample situations.

Effective theory of exotic superconductivity in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esmailzadeh, Haniyeh; Moghaddam, Ali G.

2018-05-01

Motivated by experimental and theoretical works about superconductivity at the oxide interfaces, we provide a simple model for possible unconventional pairings inside the exotic two-dimensional electron gas formed in heterostructures of SrTiO3 and LaAlO3. At the low energy limit, the electron gas at the interfaces is usually modeled with an effective three band model considering of 3d t2g orbitals which are slightly coupled by atomic spin-orbit couplings (SOC). Considering direct superconducting pairing in two higher delocalized bands and by exploiting a perturbative scheme based on canonical transformation, we derive the effective pairing amplitudes with possibly exotic nature inside the localized dxy band as well as various inter-band pairing components. In particular we show that equal-spin triplet pairings are possible between the band dxy and any of other dxz and dyz bands. In addition weaker effective pairings take place inside the localized band itself and between delocalized dxz and dyz bands with singlet and opposite-spin triplet characters. These unconventional effective pairings are indeed mediated by SOC-induced higher order virtual transitions between the bands and particularly into the localized band. Our model suggest that unconventional effective superconductivity is possible at oxide interfaces, simply, due to the special band structure and important role of atomic SOC and perhaps other magnetic effects present at these heterostructures.

Local-global analysis of crack growth in continuously reinfoced ceramic matrix composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ballarini, Roberto; Ahmed, Shamim

1989-01-01

This paper describes the development of a mathematical model for predicting the strength and micromechanical failure characteristics of continuously reinforced ceramic matrix composites. The local-global analysis models the vicinity of a propagating crack tip as a local heterogeneous region (LHR) consisting of spring-like representation of the matrix, fibers and interfaces. Parametric studies are conducted to investigate the effects of LHR size, component properties, and interface conditions on the strength and sequence of the failure processes in the unidirectional composite system.

Numerical calculation of listener-specific head-related transfer functions and sound localization: Microphone model and mesh discretization

PubMed Central

Ziegelwanger, Harald; Majdak, Piotr; Kreuzer, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) can be numerically calculated by applying the boundary element method on the geometry of a listener’s head and pinnae. The calculation results are defined by geometrical, numerical, and acoustical parameters like the microphone used in acoustic measurements. The scope of this study was to estimate requirements on the size and position of the microphone model and on the discretization of the boundary geometry as triangular polygon mesh for accurate sound localization. The evaluation involved the analysis of localization errors predicted by a sagittal-plane localization model, the comparison of equivalent head radii estimated by a time-of-arrival model, and the analysis of actual localization errors obtained in a sound-localization experiment. While the average edge length (AEL) of the mesh had a negligible effect on localization performance in the lateral dimension, the localization performance in sagittal planes, however, degraded for larger AELs with the geometrical error as dominant factor. A microphone position at an arbitrary position at the entrance of the ear canal, a microphone size of 1 mm radius, and a mesh with 1 mm AEL yielded a localization performance similar to or better than observed with acoustically measured HRTFs. PMID:26233020

The impact of the distance-dependent promotional effect on the promotion cost sharing decision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheen, Gwo-Ji; Wang, Shih-Yen; Yeh, Yingchieh

2016-02-01

This paper considers the promotion cost sharing decision between a supplier and a retailer. The customer demand is affected by both national and local promotional effects while the local promotional effect on a customer is dependent on the distance between the retailer and this customer. We propose a continuous approximation approach to modelling the sum of the customer demand in the whole market area served by the retailer. A model is provided to help managers decide on the retail price, the local advertising expenditure, the national advertising expenditure, and the supplier participation rate, with consideration of the influence of distance on the promotional effect. We also find that the supplier's promotion cost sharing rate increases as the market size increases or the influence of distance on the promotional effect decreases. A numerical example is given to show that the nature of distance-dependent promotional effect has a significant impact on the decisions and profits.

Optimal Audiovisual Integration in the Ventriloquism Effect But Pervasive Deficits in Unisensory Spatial Localization in Amblyopia.

PubMed

Richards, Michael D; Goltz, Herbert C; Wong, Agnes M F

2018-01-01

Classically understood as a deficit in spatial vision, amblyopia is increasingly recognized to also impair audiovisual multisensory processing. Studies to date, however, have not determined whether the audiovisual abnormalities reflect a failure of multisensory integration, or an optimal strategy in the face of unisensory impairment. We use the ventriloquism effect and the maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) model of optimal integration to investigate integration of audiovisual spatial information in amblyopia. Participants with unilateral amblyopia (n = 14; mean age 28.8 years; 7 anisometropic, 3 strabismic, 4 mixed mechanism) and visually normal controls (n = 16, mean age 29.2 years) localized brief unimodal auditory, unimodal visual, and bimodal (audiovisual) stimuli during binocular viewing using a location discrimination task. A subset of bimodal trials involved the ventriloquism effect, an illusion in which auditory and visual stimuli originating from different locations are perceived as originating from a single location. Localization precision and bias were determined by psychometric curve fitting, and the observed parameters were compared with predictions from the MLE model. Spatial localization precision was significantly reduced in the amblyopia group compared with the control group for unimodal visual, unimodal auditory, and bimodal stimuli. Analyses of localization precision and bias for bimodal stimuli showed no significant deviations from the MLE model in either the amblyopia group or the control group. Despite pervasive deficits in localization precision for visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli, audiovisual integration remains intact and optimal in unilateral amblyopia.

A new macro model of traffic flow by incorporating both timid and aggressive driving behaviors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Guanghan; Qing, Li

2016-10-01

In this paper, a novel macro model is derived from car-following model by applying the relationship between the micro and macro variables by incorporating the timid and aggressive effects of optimal velocity on a single lane. Numerical simulation shows that the timid and aggressive macro model of traffic flow can correctly reproduce common evolution of shock, rarefaction waves and local cluster effects under small perturbation. Also, the results uncover that the aggressive effect can smoothen the front of the shock wave and the timid effect results in local press peak, which means that the timid effect hastens the process of congregation in the shock wave. The more timid traffic behaviors are, the smaller is the stable range. Furthermore, the research shows that the advantage of the aggressive effect over the timid one lies in the fact that the aggressive traffic behaviors can improve the stability of traffic flow with the consideration of incorporating timid and aggressive driving behaviors at the same time.

Effects of desolvation barriers and sidechains on local-nonlocal coupling and chevron behaviors in coarse-grained models of protein folding.

PubMed

Chen, Tao; Chan, Hue Sun

2014-04-14

Local-nonlocal coupling is an organizational principle in protein folding. It envisions a cooperative energetic interplay between local conformational preferences and favorable nonlocal contacts. Previous theoretical studies by our group showed that two classes of native-centric coarse-grained models can capture the experimentally observed high degrees of protein folding cooperativity and diversity in folding rates. These models either embody an explicit local-nonlocal coupling mechanism or incorporate desolvation barriers in the models' pairwise interactions. Here a conceptual connection is made between these two paradigmatic coarse-grained interaction schemes by showing that desolvation barriers enhance local-nonlocal coupling. Furthermore, we find that a class of coarse-grained protein models with a single-site representation of sidechains also increases local-nonlocal coupling relative to mainchain models without sidechains. Enhanced local-nonlocal coupling generally leads to higher folding cooperativity and chevron plots with more linear folding arms. For the sidechain models studied, the chevron plot simulated with entirely native-centric intrachain interactions behaves very similarly to the corresponding chevron plots simulated with interactions that are partly modulated by sequence- and denaturant-dependent transfer free energies. In these essentially native-centric models, the mild chevron rollovers in the simulated folding arm are caused by occasionally populated intermediates as well as the movement of the unfolded and putative folding transition states. The strength and limitation of the models are analyzed by comparison with experiment. New formulations of sidechain models that may provide a physical account for nonnative interactions are also explored.

Cognitive Abilities Explain Wording Effects in the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

PubMed

Gnambs, Timo; Schroeders, Ulrich

2017-12-01

There is consensus that the 10 items of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) reflect wording effects resulting from positively and negatively keyed items. The present study examined the effects of cognitive abilities on the factor structure of the RSES with a novel, nonparametric latent variable technique called local structural equation models. In a nationally representative German large-scale assessment including 12,437 students competing measurement models for the RSES were compared: a bifactor model with a common factor and a specific factor for all negatively worded items had an optimal fit. Local structural equation models showed that the unidimensionality of the scale increased with higher levels of reading competence and reasoning, while the proportion of variance attributed to the negatively keyed items declined. Wording effects on the factor structure of the RSES seem to represent a response style artifact associated with cognitive abilities.

Sub-grid scale models for discontinuous Galerkin methods based on the Mori-Zwanzig formalism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parish, Eric; Duraisamy, Karthk

2017-11-01

The optimal prediction framework of Chorin et al., which is a reformulation of the Mori-Zwanzig (M-Z) formalism of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, provides a framework for the development of mathematically-derived closure models. The M-Z formalism provides a methodology to reformulate a high-dimensional Markovian dynamical system as a lower-dimensional, non-Markovian (non-local) system. In this lower-dimensional system, the effects of the unresolved scales on the resolved scales are non-local and appear as a convolution integral. The non-Markovian system is an exact statement of the original dynamics and is used as a starting point for model development. In this work, we investigate the development of M-Z-based closures model within the context of the Variational Multiscale Method (VMS). The method relies on a decomposition of the solution space into two orthogonal subspaces. The impact of the unresolved subspace on the resolved subspace is shown to be non-local in time and is modeled through the M-Z-formalism. The models are applied to hierarchical discontinuous Galerkin discretizations. Commonalities between the M-Z closures and conventional flux schemes are explored. This work was supported in part by AFOSR under the project ''LES Modeling of Non-local effects using Statistical Coarse-graining'' with Dr. Jean-Luc Cambier as the technical monitor.

Econonmic effects of river recreation on local economies

Treesearch

H. Ken Cordell; John C. Bergstrom; Gregory A. Ashley; John Karish

1990-01-01

Outdoor recreation is a major, growing use of water resources in the United States. The economic effects of expenditures by visitors to three recreational river sites on local economies surrounding the sites were estimated using an input-output model (IMPLAN). Expenditure data were from the Public Area Recreation Visitors Study (PARVS). Results indicate that visitor...

Local environmental context conditions the impact of Russian olive in a heterogeneous riparian ecosystem

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tuttle, Graham M.; Katz, Gabrielle L.; Friedman, Jonathan M.; Norton, Andrew P.

2016-01-01

Local abiotic and biotic conditions can alter the strength of exotic species impacts. To better understand the effects of exotic species on invaded ecosystems and to prioritize management efforts, it is important that exotic species impacts are put in local environmental context. We studied how differences in plant community composition, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and available soil N associated with Russian olive presence are conditioned by local environmental variation within a western U.S. riparian ecosystem. In four sites along the South Fork of the Republican River in Colorado, we established 200 pairs of plots (underneath and apart from Russian olive) to measure the effects of invasion across the ecosystem. We used a series of a priori mixed models to identify environmental variables that altered the effects of Russian olive. For all response variables, models that included the interaction of environmental characteristics, such as presence/absence of an existing cottonwood canopy, with the presence/absence of Russian olive canopy were stronger candidate models than those that just included Russian olive canopy presence as a factor. Compared with reference plots outside of Russian olive canopy, plots underneath Russian olive had higher relative exotic cover (exotic/total cover), lower perennial C4 grass cover, and higher perennial forb cover. These effects were reduced, however, in the presence of a cottonwood canopy. As expected, Russian olive was associated with reduced PAR and increased N, but these effects were reduced under cottonwood canopy. Our results demonstrate that local abiotic and biotic environmental factors condition the effects of Russian olive within a heterogeneous riparian ecosystem and suggest that management efforts should be focused in open areas where Russian olive impacts are strongest.

A DGTD method for the numerical modeling of the interaction of light with nanometer scale metallic structures taking into account non-local dispersion effects

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schmitt, Nikolai; Technische Universitaet Darmstadt, Institut fuer Theorie Elektromagnetischer Felder; Scheid, Claire

2016-07-01

The interaction of light with metallic nanostructures is increasingly attracting interest because of numerous potential applications. Sub-wavelength metallic structures, when illuminated with a frequency close to the plasma frequency of the metal, present resonances that cause extreme local field enhancements. Exploiting the latter in applications of interest requires a detailed knowledge about the occurring fields which can actually not be obtained analytically. For the latter mentioned reason, numerical tools are thus an absolute necessity. The insight they provide is very often the only way to get a deep enough understanding of the very rich physics at play. For the numericalmore » modeling of light-structure interaction on the nanoscale, the choice of an appropriate material model is a crucial point. Approaches that are adopted in a first instance are based on local (i.e. with no interaction between electrons) dispersive models, e.g. Drude or Drude–Lorentz models. From the mathematical point of view, when a time-domain modeling is considered, these models lead to an additional system of ordinary differential equations coupled to Maxwell's equations. However, recent experiments have shown that the repulsive interaction between electrons inside the metal makes the response of metals intrinsically non-local and that this effect cannot generally be overlooked. Technological achievements have enabled the consideration of metallic structures in a regime where such non-localities have a significant influence on the structures' optical response. This leads to an additional, in general non-linear, system of partial differential equations which is, when coupled to Maxwell's equations, significantly more difficult to treat. Nevertheless, dealing with a linearized non-local dispersion model already opens the route to numerous practical applications of plasmonics. In this work, we present a Discontinuous Galerkin Time-Domain (DGTD) method able to solve the system of Maxwell's equations coupled to a linearized non-local dispersion model relevant to plasmonics. While the method is presented in the general 3D case, numerical results are given for 2D simulation settings.« less

Application of nonlocal models to nano beams. Part II: Thickness length scale effect.

PubMed

Kim, Jun-Sik

2014-10-01

Applicability of nonlocal models to nano-beams is discussed in terms of the Eringen's nonlocal Euler-Bernoulli (EB) beam model. In literature, most work has taken the axial coordinate derivative in the Laplacian operator presented in nonlocal elasticity. This causes that the non-locality always makes the beam soften as compared to the local counterpart. In this paper, the thickness scale effect is solely considered to investigate if the nonlocal model can simulate stiffening effect. Taking the thickness derivative in the Laplacian operator leads to the presence of a surface stress state. The governing equation derived is compared to that of the EB model with the surface stress. The results obtained reveal that the nonlocality tends to decrease the bending moment stiffness whereas to increase the bending rigidity in the governing equation. This tendency also depends on the surface conditions.

Measurement and modeling of the acoustic field near an underwater vehicle and implications for acoustic source localization.

PubMed

Lepper, Paul A; D'Spain, Gerald L

2007-08-01

The performance of traditional techniques of passive localization in ocean acoustics such as time-of-arrival (phase differences) and amplitude ratios measured by multiple receivers may be degraded when the receivers are placed on an underwater vehicle due to effects of scattering. However, knowledge of the interference pattern caused by scattering provides a potential enhancement to traditional source localization techniques. Results based on a study using data from a multi-element receiving array mounted on the inner shroud of an autonomous underwater vehicle show that scattering causes the localization ambiguities (side lobes) to decrease in overall level and to move closer to the true source location, thereby improving localization performance, for signals in the frequency band 2-8 kHz. These measurements are compared with numerical modeling results from a two-dimensional time domain finite difference scheme for scattering from two fluid-loaded cylindrical shells. Measured and numerically modeled results are presented for multiple source aspect angles and frequencies. Matched field processing techniques quantify the source localization capabilities for both measurements and numerical modeling output.

Extratropical Respones to Amazon Deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badger, A.; Dirmeyer, P.

2014-12-01

Land-use change (LUC) is known to impact local climate conditions through modifications of land-atmosphere interactions. Large-scale LUC, such as Amazon deforestation, could have a significant effect on the local and regional climates. The question remains as to what the global impact of large-scale LUC could be, as previous modeling studies have shown non-local responses due to Amazon deforestation. A common shortcoming in many previous modeling studies is the use of prescribed ocean conditions, which can act as a boundary condition to dampen the global response with respect to changes in the mean and variability. Using fully coupled modeling simulations with the Community Earth System Model version 1.2.0, the Amazon rainforest has been replaced with a distribution of representative tropical crops. Through the modifications of local land-atmosphere interactions, a significant change in the region, both at the surface and throughout the atmosphere, can be quantified. Accompanying these local changes are significant changes to the atmospheric circulation across all scales, thus modifying regional climates in other locales. Notable impacts include significant changes in precipitation, surface fluxes, basin-wide sea surface temperatures and ENSO behavior.

A numerical investigation of grain shape and crystallographic texture effects on the plastic strain localization in friction stir weld zones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romanova, V.; Balokhonov, R.; Batukhtina, E.; Shakhidjanov, V.

2015-10-01

Crystal plasticity approaches were adopted to build models accounting for the microstructure and texture observed in different friction stir weld zones. To this end, a numerical investigation of crystallographic texture and grain shape effects on the plastic strain localization in a friction stir weld of an aluminum-base alloy was performed. The presence of texture was found to give rise to pronounced mesoscale plastic strain localization.

A Non Local Electron Heat Transport Model for Multi-Dimensional Fluid Codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schurtz, Guy

2000-10-01

Apparent inhibition of thermal heat flow is one of the most ancient problems in computational Inertial Fusion and flux-limited Spitzer-Harm conduction has been a mainstay in multi-dimensional hydrodynamic codes for more than 25 years. Theoretical investigation of the problem indicates that heat transport in laser produced plasmas has to be considered as a non local process. Various authors contributed to the non local theory and proposed convolution formulas designed for practical implementation in one-dimensional fluid codes. Though the theory, confirmed by kinetic calculations, actually predicts a reduced heat flux, it fails to explain the very small limiters required in two-dimensional simulations. Fokker-Planck simulations by Epperlein, Rickard and Bell [PRL 61, 2453 (1988)] demonstrated that non local effects could lead to a strong reduction of heat flow in two dimensions, even in situations where a one-dimensional analysis suggests that the heat flow is nearly classical. We developed at CEA/DAM a non local electron heat transport model suitable for implementation in our two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic code FCI2. This model may be envisionned as the first step of an iterative solution of the Fokker-Planck equations; it takes the mathematical form of multigroup diffusion equations, the solution of which yields both the heat flux and the departure of the electron distribution function to the Maxwellian. Although direct implementation of the model is straightforward, formal solutions of it can be expressed in convolution form, exhibiting a three-dimensional tensor propagator. Reduction to one dimension retrieves the original formula of Luciani, Mora and Virmont [PRL 51, 1664 (1983)]. Intense magnetic fields may be generated by thermal effects in laser targets; these fields, as well as non local effects, will inhibit electron conduction. We present simulations where both effects are taken into account and shortly discuss the coupling strategy between them.

A model for food and stimulus changes that signal time-based contingency changes.

PubMed

Cowie, Sarah; Davison, Michael; Elliffe, Douglas

2014-11-01

When the availability of reinforcers depends on time since an event, time functions as a discriminative stimulus. Behavioral control by elapsed time is generally weak, but may be enhanced by added stimuli that act as additional time markers. The present paper assessed the effect of brief and continuous added stimuli on control by time-based changes in the reinforcer differential, using a procedure in which the local reinforcer ratio reversed at a fixed time after the most recent reinforcer delivery. Local choice was enhanced by the presentation of the brief stimuli, even when the stimulus change signalled only elapsed time, but not the local reinforcer ratio. The effect of the brief stimulus presentations on choice decreased as a function of time since the most recent stimulus change. We compared the ability of several versions of a model of local choice to describe these data. The data were best described by a model which assumed that error in discriminating the local reinforcer ratio arose from imprecise discrimination of reinforcers in both time and space, suggesting that timing behavior is controlled not only by discrimination elapsed time, but by discrimination of the reinforcer differential in time. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Dual effects of Rho-kinase inhibitors on a rat model of inflammatory pain.

PubMed

Paiva-Lima, Patricia; Bakhle, Y S; Francischi, Janetti Nogueira

2014-01-01

Rho-kinases (ROCKs), a family of small GTP-dependent enzymes, are involved in a range of pain models, and their inhibition typically leads to antinociceptive effects. To study the effects of inhibiting ROCKs using two known inhibitors, Y27632 and HA1077 (fasudil), administered locally, on nociception and paw edema in rats. A range of doses of Y27632 or HA1077 (2.5 μg to 1000 μg) were injected locally into rat paws alone or in combination with carrageenan, a known proinflammatory stimulus. Nociceptive responses to mechanical stimuli and increased paw volume, reflecting edema formation, were measured at 2 h and 3 h, using a Randall-Selitto apparatus and a hydroplethysmometer, respectively. Animals treated with either ROCK inhibitor showed biphasic nociceptive effects, with lower doses being associated with pronociceptive, and higher doses with antinociceptive responses. In contrast, a monophasic dose-dependent increase in edema was observed in the same animals. Local injection of 8-bromo-cyclic (c)GMP, an activator of the nitric oxide⁄cGMP⁄protein kinase G pathway, also produced biphasic effects on nociceptive responses in rat paws; however, low doses were antinociceptive and high doses were pronociceptive. Local administration of cytochalasin B, an inhibitor of actin polymerization and a downstream mediator of ROCK activity, reversed the antinociceptive effect of Y27632. The results of the present study suggest that ROCKs participate in the local mechanisms associated with nociception⁄antinociception and inflammation, with a possible involvement of the nitric oxide⁄cGMP⁄protein kinase G pathway. Also, drug effects following local administration may differ markedly from the effects following systemic administration. Finally, separate treatment of pain and edema may be needed to maximize clinical benefit in inflammatory pain.

The effect of the PROSPER partnership model on cultivating local stakeholder knowledge of evidence-based programs: a five-year longitudinal study of 28 communities.

PubMed

Crowley, D Max; Greenberg, Mark T; Feinberg, Mark E; Spoth, Richard L; Redmond, Cleve R

2012-02-01

A substantial challenge in improving public health is how to facilitate the local adoption of evidence-based interventions (EBIs). To do so, an important step is to build local stakeholders' knowledge and decision-making skills regarding the adoption and implementation of EBIs. One EBI delivery system, called PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience), has effectively mobilized community prevention efforts, implemented prevention programming with quality, and consequently decreased youth substance abuse. While these results are encouraging, another objective is to increase local stakeholder knowledge of best practices for adoption, implementation and evaluation of EBIs. Using a mixed methods approach, we assessed local stakeholder knowledge of these best practices over 5 years, in 28 intervention and control communities. Results indicated that the PROSPER partnership model led to significant increases in expert knowledge regarding the selection, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based interventions. Findings illustrate the limited programming knowledge possessed by members of local prevention efforts, the difficulty of complete knowledge transfer, and highlight one method for cultivating that knowledge.

Closed-form solutions in stress-driven two-phase integral elasticity for bending of functionally graded nano-beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barretta, Raffaele; Fabbrocino, Francesco; Luciano, Raimondo; Sciarra, Francesco Marotti de

2018-03-01

Strain-driven and stress-driven integral elasticity models are formulated for the analysis of the structural behaviour of fuctionally graded nano-beams. An innovative stress-driven two-phases constitutive mixture defined by a convex combination of local and nonlocal phases is presented. The analysis reveals that the Eringen strain-driven fully nonlocal model cannot be used in Structural Mechanics since it is ill-posed and the local-nonlocal mixtures based on the Eringen integral model partially resolve the ill-posedeness of the model. In fact, a singular behaviour of continuous nano-structures appears if the local fraction tends to vanish so that the ill-posedness of the Eringen integral model is not eliminated. On the contrary, local-nonlocal mixtures based on the stress-driven theory are mathematically and mechanically appropriate for nanosystems. Exact solutions of inflected functionally graded nanobeams of technical interest are established by adopting the new local-nonlocal mixture stress-driven integral relation. Effectiveness of the new nonlocal approach is tested by comparing the contributed results with the ones corresponding to the mixture Eringen theory.

Students' Critical Thinking Skills in Chemistry Learning Using Local Culture-Based 7E Learning Cycle Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suardana, I. Nyoman; Redhana, I. Wayan; Sudiatmika, A. A. Istri Agung Rai; Selamat, I. Nyoman

2018-01-01

This research aimed at describing the effectiveness of the local culture-based 7E learning cycle model in improving students' critical thinking skills in chemistry learning. It was an experimental research with post-test only control group design. The population was the eleventh-grade students of senior high schools in Singaraja, Indonesia. The…

Multi-scale finite element modeling of strain localization in geomaterials with strong discontinuity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Timothy Yu

2002-01-01

Geomaterials such as soils and rocks undergo strain localization during various loading conditions. Strain localization manifests itself in the form of a shear band, a narrow zone of intense straining. It is now generally recognized that these localized deformations lead to an accelerated softening response and influence the response of structures at or near failure. In order to accurately predict the behavior of geotechnical structures, the effects of strain localization must be included in any model developed. In this thesis, a multi-scale Finite Element (FE) model has been developed that captures the macro- and micro-field deformation patterns present during strain localization. The FE model uses a strong discontinuity approach where a jump in the displacement field is assumed. The onset of strain localization is detected using bifurcation theory that checks when the governing equations lose ellipticity. Two types of bifurcation, continuous and discontinuous are considered. Precise conditions for plane strain loading conditions are reported for each type of bifurcation. Post-localization behavior is governed by the traction relations on the band. Different plasticity models such as Mohr-Coulomb, Drucker-Prager and a Modified Mohr-Coulomb yield were implemented together with cohesion softening and cutoff for the post-localization behavior. The FE model is implemented into a FORTRAN code SPIN2D-LOC using enhanced constant strain triangular (CST) elements. The model is formulated using standard Galerkin finite element method, applicable to problems under undrained conditions and small deformation theory. A band-tracing algorithm is implemented to track the propagation of the shear band. To validate the model, several simulations are performed from simple compression test of soft rock to simulation of a full-scale geosynthetic reinforced soil wall model undergoing strain localization. Results from both standard and enhanced FE method are included for comparison. The resulting load-displacement curves show that the model can represent the softening behavior of geomaterials once strain localization is detected. The orientation of the shear band is found to depend on both the friction and dilation angle of the geomaterial. For most practical problems, slight mesh dependency can be expected but is associated with the standard FE interpolation rather than the strong discontinuity enhancements.

A complex speciation–richness relationship in a simple neutral model

PubMed Central

Desjardins-Proulx, Philippe; Gravel, Dominique

2012-01-01

Speciation is the “elephant in the room” of community ecology. As the ultimate source of biodiversity, its integration in ecology's theoretical corpus is necessary to understand community assembly. Yet, speciation is often completely ignored or stripped of its spatial dimension. Recent approaches based on network theory have allowed ecologists to effectively model complex landscapes. In this study, we use this framework to model allopatric and parapatric speciation in networks of communities. We focus on the relationship between speciation, richness, and the spatial structure of communities. We find a strong opposition between speciation and local richness, with speciation being more common in isolated communities and local richness being higher in more connected communities. Unlike previous models, we also find a transition to a positive relationship between speciation and local richness when dispersal is low and the number of communities is small. We use several measures of centrality to characterize the effect of network structure on diversity. The degree, the simplest measure of centrality, is the best predictor of local richness and speciation, although it loses some of its predictive power as connectivity grows. Our framework shows how a simple neutral model can be combined with network theory to reveal complex relationships between speciation, richness, and the spatial organization of populations. PMID:22957181

Combined local and systemic antibiotic delivery improves eradication of wound contamination: An animal experimental model of contaminated fracture.

PubMed

Rand, B C C; Penn-Barwell, J G; Wenke, J C

2015-10-01

Systemic antibiotics reduce infection in open fractures. Local delivery of antibiotics can provide higher doses to wounds without toxic systemic effects. This study investigated the effect on infection of combining systemic with local antibiotics via polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) beads or gel delivery. An established Staphylococcus aureus contaminated fracture model in rats was used. Wounds were debrided and irrigated six hours after contamination and animals assigned to one of three groups, all of which received systemic antibiotics. One group had local delivery via antibiotic gel, another PMMA beads and the control group received no local antibiotics. After two weeks, bacterial levels were quantified. Combined local and systemic antibiotics were superior to systemic antibiotics alone at reducing the quantity of bacteria recoverable from each group (p = 0.002 for gel; p = 0.032 for beads). There was no difference in the bacterial counts between bead and gel delivery (p = 0.62). These results suggest that local antibiotics augment the antimicrobial effect of systemic antibiotics. Although no significant difference was found between vehicles, gel delivery offers technical advantages with its biodegradable nature, ability to conform to wound shape and to deliver increased doses. Further study is required to see if the gel delivery system has a clinical role. ©2015 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery.

Reversing the pipeline? Implementing public health evidence-based guidance in english local government.

PubMed

Atkins, Lou; Kelly, Michael P; Littleford, Clare; Leng, Gillian; Michie, Susan

2017-05-12

In the UK, responsibility for many public health functions was transferred in 2013 from the National Health Service (NHS) to local government; a very different political context and one without the NHS history of policy and practice being informed by evidence-based guidelines. A problem this move presented was whether evidence-based guidelines would be seen as relevant, useful and implementable within local government. This study investigates three aspects of implementing national evidence-based recommendations for public health within a local government context: influences on implementation, how useful guidelines are perceived to be and whether the linear evidence-guidelines-practice model is considered relevant. Thirty-one councillors, public health directors and deputy directors and officers and other local government employees were interviewed about their experiences implementing evidence-based guidelines. Interviews were informed and analysed using a theoretical model of behaviour (COM-B; Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour). Contextual issues such as budget, capacity and political influence were important influences on implementation. Guidelines were perceived to be of limited use, with concerns expressed about recommendations being presented in the abstract, lacking specificity and not addressing the complexity of situations or local variations. Local evidence was seen as the best starting point, rather than evidence-based guidance produced by the traditional linear 'evidence-guidelines-practice' model. Local evidence was used to not only provide context for recommendations but also replace recommendations when they conflicted with local evidence. Local government users do not necessarily consider national guidelines to be fit for purpose at local level, with the consequence that local evidence tends to trump evidence-based guidelines. There is thus a tension between the traditional model of guideline development and the needs of public health decision-makers and practitioners working in local government. This tension needs to be addressed to facilitate implementation. One way this might be achieved, and participants supported this approach, would be to reverse or re-engineer the traditional pipeline of guideline development by starting with local need and examples of effective local practice rather than starting with evidence of effectiveness synthesised from the international scientific literature. Alternatively, and perhaps in addition, training about the relevance of research evidence should become a routine for local government staff and councillors.

Modelling the biologic effect of ions with the Local Effect Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedrich, Thomas; Elsässer, Thilo; Durante, Marco; Scholz, Michael

In many cases in radiobiological experiments as well as in ion beam therapy the Local Effect Model (LEM) has proven to be capable to describe the biologic effect of ion irradiation based on the response to X-rays. During the last years, the LEM has been extended to include important processes such as the diffusion of free radicals or the biologic effect enhancement due to clustered lesions of the DNA in a more mechanistic fashion. In its current status the predictive power of the LEM covers a wide range of ions with good quantitative precision. Hence there is potential to also apply the LEM to problems in radiation protection. In this talk, the development stages of the LEM are illustrated. Emphasis is put on the most recent version of the LEM, where spatial distributions of DNA lesions are considered. Applicability, limits and strategies for an advanced model testing are discussed. Finally, planned extensions and applications of the LEM are presented.

Forecasting the Effects of Higher Education Appropriations on Local Economies. AIR 1986 Annual Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prewitt, Sidney A.; And Others

An economic model of the effects of colleges on their communities was developed. The Texas Input-Output Model was modified into a higher education budgetary model. Included were the positive benefits of tax savings and estimates of the net effect on various communities in which state-supported colleges and universities are located. The output…

Effective medium model for a granular monolayer on an elastic substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maznev, Alexei

Effective medium models have been shown to work well in describing experimental observations of the interaction of surface Rayleigh waves with contact vibrations of a monolayer of microspheres . However, these models contain intrinsic conceptual problems: for example, the local displacement of the substrate at the contact point is equated to the effective medium average value of the surface displacement. I will present a rigorous derivation of the effective medium model for a random arrangement of mass-spring oscillators on an elastic half-space using elastodynamic surface Green's function formalism. We will see that the model equating the local surface displacement to the effective medium displacement is indeed valid if the spring constant of the oscillators is modified to include the stiffness of the contact calculated in the quasistatic approximation. In the case of contact vibrations of microspheres, this means using the spring constant calculated using the Hertzian contact model. Thus the results obtained in the prior work were correct despite the apparent inconsistencies in the model. The presented analysis will provide a solid foundation for effective medium models used to describe dynamics of microparticle arrays adhered to a solid substrate. This work was supported by the U. S. Army Research Office through the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies under Grant W911NF-13-D-0001.

Controlling effect of geometrically defined local structural changes on chaotic Hamiltonian systems.

PubMed

Ben Zion, Yossi; Horwitz, Lawrence

2010-04-01

An effective characterization of chaotic conservative Hamiltonian systems in terms of the curvature associated with a Riemannian metric tensor derived from the structure of the Hamiltonian has been extended to a wide class of potential models of standard form through definition of a conformal metric. The geodesic equations reproduce the Hamilton equations of the original potential model through an inverse map in the tangent space. The second covariant derivative of the geodesic deviation in this space generates a dynamical curvature, resulting in (energy-dependent) criteria for unstable behavior different from the usual Lyapunov criteria. We show here that this criterion can be constructively used to modify locally the potential of a chaotic Hamiltonian model in such a way that stable motion is achieved. Since our criterion for instability is local in coordinate space, these results provide a minimal method for achieving control of a chaotic system.

The nonlocal electron kinetics for a low-pressure glow discharge dusty plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Yonggan; Wang, Ying; Li, Hui; Tian, Ruihuan; Yuan, Chengxun; Kudryavtsev, A. A.; Rabadanov, K. M.; Wu, Jian; Zhou, Zhongxiang; Tian, Hao

2018-05-01

The nonlocal electron kinetic model based on the Boltzmann equation is developed in low-pressure argon glow discharge dusty plasmas. The additional electron-dust elastic and inelastic collision processes are considered when solving the kinetic equation numerically. The orbital motion limited theory and collision enhanced collection approximation are employed to calculate the dust surface potential. The electron energy distribution function (EEDF), effective electron temperature Teff, and dust surface potential are investigated under different plasma and dust conditions by solving the Boltzmann and the dust charging current balance equations self-consistently. A comparison of the calculation results obtained from nonlocal and local kinetic models is made. It is shown that the appearance of dust particles leads to a deviation of the EEDF from its original profile for both nonlocal and local kinetic models. With the increase in dust density and size, the effective electron temperature and dust surface potential decrease due to the high-energy electron loss on the dust surface. Meanwhile, the nonlocal and local results differ much from each other under the same calculation condition. It is concluded that, for low-pressure (PR ≤ 1 cm*Torr) glow discharge dusty plasmas, the existence of dust particles will amplify the difference of local and nonlocal EEDFs, which makes the local kinetic model more improper to determine the main parameters of the positive column. The nonlocal kinetic model should be used for the calculation of the EEDFs and dusty plasma parameters.

Effective stochastic generator with site-dependent interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khamehchi, Masoumeh; Jafarpour, Farhad H.

2017-11-01

It is known that the stochastic generators of effective processes associated with the unconditioned dynamics of rare events might consist of non-local interactions; however, it can be shown that there are special cases for which these generators can include local interactions. In this paper, we investigate this possibility by considering systems of classical particles moving on a one-dimensional lattice with open boundaries. The particles might have hard-core interactions similar to the particles in an exclusion process, or there can be many arbitrary particles at a single site in a zero-range process. Assuming that the interactions in the original process are local and site-independent, we will show that under certain constraints on the microscopic reaction rules, the stochastic generator of an unconditioned process can be local but site-dependent. As two examples, the asymmetric zero-temperature Glauber model and the A-model with diffusion are presented and studied under the above-mentioned constraints.

Grain-scale investigations of deformation heterogeneities in aluminum alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Güler, Baran; Şimşek, Ülke; Yalçınkaya, Tuncay; Efe, Mert

2018-05-01

The anisotropic deformation of Aluminum alloys at micron scale exhibits localized deformation, which has negative implications on the macroscale mechanical and forming behavior. The scope of this work is twofold. Firstly, micro-scale deformation heterogeneities affecting forming behavior of aluminum alloys is investigated through experimental microstructure analysis at large strains and various strain paths. The effects of initial texture, local grain misorientation, and strain paths on the strain localizations are established. In addition to uniaxial tension condition, deformation heterogeneities are also investigated under equibiaxial tension condition to determine the strain path effects on the localization behavior. Secondly, the morphology and the crystallographic data obtained from the experiments is transferred to Abaqus software, in order to predict both macroscopic response and the microstructure evolution though crystal plasticity finite element simulations. The model parameters are identified through the comparison with experiments and the capability of the model to capture real material response is discussed as well.

Homogenization of locally resonant acoustic metamaterials towards an emergent enriched continuum.

PubMed

Sridhar, A; Kouznetsova, V G; Geers, M G D

This contribution presents a novel homogenization technique for modeling heterogeneous materials with micro-inertia effects such as locally resonant acoustic metamaterials. Linear elastodynamics is used to model the micro and macro scale problems and an extended first order Computational Homogenization framework is used to establish the coupling. Craig Bampton Mode Synthesis is then applied to solve and eliminate the microscale problem, resulting in a compact closed form description of the microdynamics that accurately captures the Local Resonance phenomena. The resulting equations represent an enriched continuum in which additional kinematic degrees of freedom emerge to account for Local Resonance effects which would otherwise be absent in a classical continuum. Such an approach retains the accuracy and robustness offered by a standard Computational Homogenization implementation, whereby the problem and the computational time are reduced to the on-line solution of one scale only.

Model-based correction for local stress-induced overlay errors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stobert, Ian; Krishnamurthy, Subramanian; Shi, Hongbo; Stiffler, Scott

2018-03-01

Manufacturing embedded DRAM deep trench capacitors can involve etching very deep holes into silicon wafers1. Due to various design constraints, these holes may not be uniformly distributed across the wafer surface. Some wafer processing steps for these trenches results in stress effects which can distort the silicon wafer in a manner that creates localized alignment issues between the trenches and the structures built above them on the wafer. In this paper, we describe a method to model these localized silicon distortions for complex layouts involving billions of deep trench structures. We describe wafer metrology techniques and data which have been used to verify the stress distortion model accuracy. We also provide a description of how this kind of model can be used to manipulate the polygons in the mask tape out flow to compensate for predicted localized misalignments between design shapes from a deep trench mask and subsequent masks.

Effect of the fiber-matrix interphase on the transverse tensile strength of the unidirectional composite material

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tsai, H. C.; Arocho, A. M.

1992-01-01

A simple one-dimensional fiber-matrix interphase model has been developed and analytical results obtained correlated well with available experimental data. It was found that by including the interphase between the fiber and matrix in the model, much better local stress results were obtained than with the model without the interphase. A more sophisticated two-dimensional micromechanical model, which included the interphase properties was also developed. Both one-dimensional and two-dimensional models were used to study the effect of the interphase properties on the local stresses at the fiber, interphase and matrix. From this study, it was found that interphase modulus and thickness have significant influence on the transverse tensile strength and mode of failure in fiber reinforced composites.

Correlation effects in superconducting quantum dot systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pokorný, Vladislav; Žonda, Martin

2018-05-01

We study the effect of electron correlations on a system consisting of a single-level quantum dot with local Coulomb interaction attached to two superconducting leads. We use the single-impurity Anderson model with BCS superconducting baths to study the interplay between the proximity induced electron pairing and the local Coulomb interaction. We show how to solve the model using the continuous-time hybridization-expansion quantum Monte Carlo method. The results obtained for experimentally relevant parameters are compared with results of self-consistent second order perturbation theory as well as with the numerical renormalization group method.

Influence of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium and Zeeman effects on magnetic equilibrium reconstruction using spectral motional Stark effect diagnostic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reimer, R.; Marchuk, O.; Geiger, B.; Mc Carthy, P. J.; Dunne, M.; Hobirk, J.; Wolf, R.; ASDEX Upgrade Team

2017-08-01

The Motional Stark Effect (MSE) diagnostic is a well established technique to infer the local internal magnetic field in fusion plasmas. In this paper, the existing forward model which describes the MSE data is extended by the Zeeman effect, fine-structure, and relativistic corrections in the interpretation of the MSE spectra for different experimental conditions at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. The contribution of the non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (non-LTE) populations among the magnetic sub-levels and the Zeeman effect on the derived plasma parameters is different. The obtained pitch angle is changed by 3 ° … 4 ° and by 0 . 5 ° … 1 ° including the non-LTE and the Zeeman effects into the standard statistical MSE model. The total correction is about 4°. Moreover, the variation of the magnetic field strength is significantly changed by 2.2% due to the Zeeman effect only. While the data on the derived pitch angle still could not be tested against the other diagnostics, the results from an equilibrium reconstruction solver confirm the obtained values for magnetic field strength.

Crystal plasticity investigation of the microstructural factors influencing dislocation channeling in a model irradiated bcc material

DOE PAGES

Patra, Anirban; McDowell, David L.

2016-03-25

We use a continuum crystal plasticity framework to study the effect of microstructure and mesoscopic factors on dislocation channeling and flow localization in an irradiated model bcc alloy. For simulated dislocation channeling characteristics we correlate the dislocation and defect densities in the substructure, local Schmid factor, and stress triaxiality, in terms of their temporal and spatial evolution. A metric is introduced to assess the propensity for localization and is correlated to the grain-level Schmid factor. We also found that localization generally takes place in grains with a local Schmid factor in the range 0.42 or higher. Surface slip step heightsmore » are computed at free surfaces and compared to relevant experiments.« less

Evaluating Intra-Articular Drug Delivery for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis in a Rat Model

PubMed Central

Allen, Kyle D.; Adams, Samuel B.

2010-01-01

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that can result in joint pain, loss of joint function, and deleterious effects on activity levels and lifestyle habits. Current therapies for OA are largely aimed at symptomatic relief and may have limited effects on the underlying cascade of joint degradation. Local drug delivery strategies may provide for the development of more successful OA treatment outcomes that have potential to reduce local joint inflammation, reduce joint destruction, offer pain relief, and restore patient activity levels and joint function. As increasing interest turns toward intra-articular drug delivery routes, parallel interest has emerged in evaluating drug biodistribution, safety, and efficacy in preclinical models. Rodent models provide major advantages for the development of drug delivery strategies, chiefly because of lower cost, successful replication of human OA-like characteristics, rapid disease development, and small joint volumes that enable use of lower total drug amounts during protocol development. These models, however, also offer the potential to investigate the therapeutic effects of local drug therapy on animal behavior, including pain sensitivity thresholds and locomotion characteristics. Herein, we describe a translational paradigm for the evaluation of an intra-articular drug delivery strategy in a rat OA model. This model, a rat interleukin-1β overexpression model, offers the ability to evaluate anti-interleukin-1 therapeutics for drug biodistribution, activity, and safety as well as the therapeutic relief of disease symptoms. Once the action against interleukin-1 is confirmed in vivo, the newly developed anti-inflammatory drug can be evaluated for evidence of disease-modifying effects in more complex preclinical models. PMID:19943805

A locally p-adaptive approach for Large Eddy Simulation of compressible flows in a DG framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tugnoli, Matteo; Abbà, Antonella; Bonaventura, Luca; Restelli, Marco

2017-11-01

We investigate the possibility of reducing the computational burden of LES models by employing local polynomial degree adaptivity in the framework of a high-order DG method. A novel degree adaptation technique especially featured to be effective for LES applications is proposed and its effectiveness is compared to that of other criteria already employed in the literature. The resulting locally adaptive approach allows to achieve significant reductions in computational cost of representative LES computations.

Leakage and spillover effects of forest management on carbon storage: theoretical insights from a simple model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnani, Federico; Dewar, Roderick C.; Borghetti, Marco

2009-04-01

Leakage (spillover) refers to the unintended negative (positive) consequences of forest carbon (C) management in one area on C storage elsewhere. For example, the local C storage benefit of less intensive harvesting in one area may be offset, partly or completely, by intensified harvesting elsewhere in order to meet global timber demand. We present the results of a theoretical study aimed at identifying the key factors determining leakage and spillover, as a prerequisite for more realistic numerical studies. We use a simple model of C storage in managed forest ecosystems and their wood products to derive approximate analytical expressions for the leakage induced by decreasing the harvesting frequency of existing forest, and the spillover induced by establishing new plantations, assuming a fixed total wood production from local and remote (non-local) forests combined. We find that leakage and spillover depend crucially on the growth rates, wood product lifetimes and woody litter decomposition rates of local and remote forests. In particular, our results reveal critical thresholds for leakage and spillover, beyond which effects of forest management on remote C storage exceed local effects. Order of magnitude estimates of leakage indicate its potential importance at global scales.

Assimilation of global versus local data sets into a regional model of the Gulf Stream system. 1. Data effectiveness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Young, Roberta E.

1995-12-01

The primary objective of this paper is to assess the relative effectiveness of data sets with different space coverage and time resolution when they are assimilated into an ocean circulation model. We focus on obtaining realistic numerical simulations of the Gulf Stream system typically of the order of 3-month duration by constructing a "synthetic" ocean simultaneously consistent with the model dynamics and the observations. The model used is the Semispectral Primitive Equation Model. The data sets are the "global" Optimal Thermal Interpolation Scheme (OTIS) 3 of the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center providing temperature and salinity fields with global coverage and with bi-weekly frequency, and the localized measurements, mostly of current velocities, from the central and eastern array moorings of the Synoptic Ocean Prediction (SYNOP) program, with daily frequency but with a very small spatial coverage. We use a suboptimal assimilation technique ("nudging"). Even though this technique has already been used in idealized data assimilation studies, to our knowledge this is the first study in which the effectiveness of nudging is tested by assimilating real observations of the interior temperature and salinity fields. This is also the first work in which a systematic assimilation is carried out of the localized, high-quality SYNOP data sets in numerical experiments longer than 1-2 weeks, that is, not aimed to forecasting. We assimilate (1) the global OTIS 3 alone, (2) the local SYNOP observations alone, and (3) both OTIS 3 and SYNOP observations. We assess the success of the assimilations with quantitative measures of performance, both on the global and local scale. The results can be summarized as follows. The intermittent assimilation of the global OTIS 3 is necessary to keep the model "on track" over 3-month simulations on the global scale. As OTIS 3 is assimilated at every model grid point, a "gentle" weight must be prescribed to it so as not to overconstrain the model. However, in these assimilations the predicted velocity fields over the SYNOP arrays are greatly in error. The continuous assimilation of the localized SYNOP data sets with a strong weight is necessary to obtain local realistic evolutions. Then assimilation of velocity measurements alone recovers the density structure over the array area. However, the spatial coverage of the SYNOP measurements is too small to constrain the model on the global scale. Thus the blending of both types of datasets is necessary in the assimilation as they constrain different time and space scales. Our choice of "gentle" nudging weight for the global OTIS 3 and "strong" weight for the local SYNOP data provides for realistic simulations of the Gulf Stream system, both globally and locally, on the 3- to 4-month-long timescale, the one governed by the Gulf Stream jet internal dynamics.

Local immunization program for susceptible-infected-recovered network epidemic model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qingchu; Lou, Yijun

2016-02-01

The immunization strategies through contact tracing on the susceptible-infected-recovered framework in social networks are modelled to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of information-based vaccination programs with particular focus on the scenario where individuals belonging to a specific set can get vaccinated due to the vaccine shortages and other economic or humanity constraints. By using the block heterogeneous mean-field approach, a series of discrete-time dynamical models is formulated and the condition for epidemic outbreaks can be established which is shown to be not only dependent on the network structure but also closely related to the immunization control parameters. Results show that increasing the immunization strength can effectively raise the epidemic threshold, which is different from the predictions obtained through the susceptible-infected-susceptible network framework, where epidemic threshold is independent of the vaccination strength. Furthermore, a significant decrease of vaccine use to control the infectious disease is observed for the local vaccination strategy, which shows the promising applications of the local immunization programs to disease control while calls for accurate local information during the process of disease outbreak.

Local conformity induced global oscillation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dong; Li, Wei; Hu, Gang; Zheng, Zhigang

2009-04-01

The game ‘rock-paper-scissors’ model, with the consideration of the effect of the psychology of conformity, is investigated. The interaction between each two agents is global, but the strategy of the conformity is local for individuals. In the statistical opinion, the probability of the appearance of each strategy is uniform. The dynamical analysis of this model indicates that the equilibrium state may lose its stability at a threshold and is replaced by a globally oscillating state. The global oscillation is induced by the local conformity, which is originated from the synchronization of individual strategies.

Does temperature nudging overwhelm aerosol radiative effects in regional integrated climate models?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Jian; Glotfelty, Timothy; Yahya, Khairunnisa; Alapaty, Kiran; Yu, Shaocai

2017-04-01

Nudging (data assimilation) is used in many regional integrated meteorology-air quality models to reduce biases in simulated climatology. However, in such modeling systems, temperature changes due to nudging could compete with temperature changes induced by radiatively active and hygroscopic short-lived tracers leading to two interesting dilemmas: when nudging is continuously applied, what are the relative sizes of these two radiative forces at regional and local scales? How do these two forces present in the free atmosphere differ from those present at the surface? This work studies these two issues by converting temperature changes due to nudging into pseudo radiative effects (PRE) at the surface (PRE_sfc), in troposphere (PRE_atm), and at the top of atmosphere (PRE_toa), and comparing PRE with the reported aerosol radiative effects (ARE). Results show that the domain-averaged PRE_sfc is smaller than ARE_sfc estimated in previous studies and this work, but could be significantly larger than ARE_sfc at local scales. PRE_atm is also much smaller than ARE_atm. These results indicate that appropriate nudging methodology could be applied to the integrated models to study aerosol radiative effects at continental/regional scales, but it should be treated with caution for local scale applications.

A Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) practice development model to support integration of the CNL role into microsystem care delivery.

PubMed

Kaack, Lorraine; Bender, Miriam; Finch, Michael; Borns, Linda; Grasham, Katherine; Avolio, Alice; Clausen, Shawna; Terese, Nadine A; Johnstone, Diane; Williams, Marjory

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Nursing Services (ONS) was an early adopter of Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) practice, generating some of the earliest pilot data of CNL practice effectiveness. In 2011 the VHA ONS CNL Implementation & Evaluation Service (CNL I&E) piloted a curriculum to facilitate CNL transition to effective practice at local VHA settings. In 2015, the CNL I&E and local VHA setting stakeholders collaborated to refine the program, based on lessons learned at the national and local level. The workgroup reviewed the literature to identify theoretical frameworks for CNL practice and practice development. The workgroup selected Benner et al.'s Novice-to-Expert model as the defining framework for CNL practice development, and Bender et al.'s CNL Practice Model as the defining framework for CNL practice integration. The selected frameworks were cross-walked against existing curriculum elements to identify and clarify additional practice development needs. The work generated key insights into: core stages of transition to effective practice; CNL progress and expectations for each stage; and organizational support structures necessary for CNL success at each stage. The refined CNL development model is a robust tool that can be applied to support consistent and effective integration of CNL practice into care delivery. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Non-local damage rheology and size effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyakhovsky, V.

2011-12-01

We study scaling relations controlling the onset of transiently-accelerating fracturing and transition to dynamic rupture propagation in a non-local damage rheology model. The size effect is caused principally by growth of a fracture process zone, involving stress redistribution and energy release associated with a large fracture. This implies that rupture nucleation and transition to dynamic propagation are inherently scale-dependent processes. Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) and local damage mechanics are formulated in terms of dimensionless strain components and thus do not allow introducing any space scaling, except linear relations between fracture length and displacements. Generalization of Weibull theory provides scaling relations between stress and crack length at the onset of failure. A powerful extension of the LEFM formulation is the displacement-weakening model which postulates that yielding is complete when the crack wall displacement exceeds some critical value or slip-weakening distance Dc at which a transition to kinetic friction is complete. Scaling relations controlling the transition to dynamic rupture propagation in slip-weakening formulation are widely accepted in earthquake physics. Strong micro-crack interaction in a process zone may be accounted for by adopting either integral or gradient type non-local damage models. We formulate a gradient-type model with free energy depending on the scalar damage parameter and its spatial derivative. The damage-gradient term leads to structural stresses in the constitutive stress-strain relations and a damage diffusion term in the kinetic equation for damage evolution. The damage diffusion eliminates the singular localization predicted by local models. The finite width of the localization zone provides a fundamental length scale that allows numerical simulations with the model to achieve the continuum limit. A diffusive term in the damage evolution gives rise to additional damage diffusive time scale associated with the structural length scale. The ratio between two time scales associated with damage accumulation and diffusion, the damage diffusivity ratio, reflects the role of the diffusion-controlled delocalization. We demonstrate that localized fracturing occurs at the damage diffusivity ratio below certain critical value leading to a linear scaling between stress and crack length compatible with size effect for failures at crack initiation. A subseuqent quasi-static fracture growth is self-similar with increasing size of the process zone proportional to the fracture length. At a certain stage, controlled by dynamic weakening, the self-similarity breaks down and crack velocity significantly deviates from that predicted by the quasi-static regime, the size of the process zone decreases, and the rate of crack growth ceases to be controlled by the rate of damage increase. Furthermore, the crack speed approaches that predicted by the elasto-dynamic equation. The non-local damage rheology model predicts that the nucleation size of the dynamic fracture scales with fault zone thickness distance of the stress interraction.

Towards a bulk approach to local interactions of hydrometeors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumgartner, Manuel; Spichtinger, Peter

2018-02-01

The growth of small cloud droplets and ice crystals is dominated by the diffusion of water vapor. Usually, Maxwell's approach to growth for isolated particles is used in describing this process. However, recent investigations show that local interactions between particles can change diffusion properties of cloud particles. In this study we develop an approach for including these local interactions into a bulk model approach. For this purpose, a simplified framework of local interaction is proposed and governing equations are derived from this setup. The new model is tested against direct simulations and incorporated into a parcel model framework. Using the parcel model, possible implications of the new model approach for clouds are investigated. The results indicate that for specific scenarios the lifetime of cloud droplets in subsaturated air may be longer (e.g., for an initially water supersaturated air parcel within a downdraft). These effects might have an impact on mixed-phase clouds, for example in terms of riming efficiencies.

A transport model for non-local heating of electrons in ICP reactors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, C. H.; Bose, Deepak

1998-10-01

A new model has been developed for non-local heating of electrons in ICP reactors, based on a hydrodynamic approach. The model has been derived using the electron momentum conservation in azimuthal direction with electromagnetic and frictional forces respectively as driving force and damper of harmonic oscillatory motion of electrons. The resulting transport equations include the convection of azimuthal electron momentum in radial and axial directions, thereby accounting for the non-local effects. The azimuthal velocity of electrons and the resulting electrical current are coupled to the Maxwell's relations, thus forming a self-consistent model for non-local heating. This model is being implemented along with a set of Navier-Stokes equations for plasma dynamics and gas flow to simulate low-pressure (few mTorr's) ICP discharges. Characteristics of nitrogen plasma in a TCP 300mm etch reactor is being studied. The results will be compared against the available Langmuir probe measurements [Collison et al. JVST-A 16(1),1998].

Effects of late administration of pentoxifylline and tocotrienols in an image-guided rat model of localized heart irradiation.

PubMed

Sridharan, Vijayalakshmi; Tripathi, Preeti; Sharma, Sunil; Corry, Peter M; Moros, Eduardo G; Singh, Awantika; Compadre, Cesar M; Hauer-Jensen, Martin; Boerma, Marjan

2013-01-01

Radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) is a long-term side effect of radiotherapy of intrathoracic, chest wall and breast tumors when radiation fields encompass all or part of the heart. Previous studies have shown that pentoxifylline (PTX) in combination with α-tocopherol reduced manifestations of RIHD in rat models of local heart irradiation. The relative contribution of PTX and α-tocopherol to these beneficial effects are not known. This study examined the effects of PTX alone or in combination with tocotrienols, forms of vitamin E with potential potent radiation mitigation properties. Rats received localized X-irradiation of the heart with an image-guided irradiation technique. At 3 months after irradiation rats received oral treatment with vehicle, PTX, or PTX in combination with a tocotrienol-enriched formulation. At 6 months after irradiation, PTX-treated rats showed arrhythmia in 5 out of 14 animals. PTX alone or in combination with tocotrienols did not alter cardiac radiation fibrosis, left ventricular protein expression of the endothelial markers von Willebrand factor and neuregulin-1, or phosphorylation of the signal mediators Akt, Erk1/2, or PKCα. On the other hand, tocotrienols reduced cardiac numbers of mast cells and macrophages, but enhanced the expression of tissue factor. While this new rat model of localized heart irradiation does not support the use of PTX alone, the effects of tocotrienols on chronic manifestations of RIHD deserve further investigation.

Effects of Late Administration of Pentoxifylline and Tocotrienols in an Image-Guided Rat Model of Localized Heart Irradiation

PubMed Central

Sridharan, Vijayalakshmi; Tripathi, Preeti; Sharma, Sunil; Corry, Peter M.; Moros, Eduardo G.; Singh, Awantika; Compadre, Cesar M.; Hauer-Jensen, Martin; Boerma, Marjan

2013-01-01

Radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) is a long-term side effect of radiotherapy of intrathoracic, chest wall and breast tumors when radiation fields encompass all or part of the heart. Previous studies have shown that pentoxifylline (PTX) in combination with α-tocopherol reduced manifestations of RIHD in rat models of local heart irradiation. The relative contribution of PTX and α-tocopherol to these beneficial effects are not known. This study examined the effects of PTX alone or in combination with tocotrienols, forms of vitamin E with potential potent radiation mitigation properties. Rats received localized X-irradiation of the heart with an image-guided irradiation technique. At 3 months after irradiation rats received oral treatment with vehicle, PTX, or PTX in combination with a tocotrienol-enriched formulation. At 6 months after irradiation, PTX-treated rats showed arrhythmia in 5 out of 14 animals. PTX alone or in combination with tocotrienols did not alter cardiac radiation fibrosis, left ventricular protein expression of the endothelial markers von Willebrand factor and neuregulin-1, or phosphorylation of the signal mediators Akt, Erk1/2, or PKCα. On the other hand, tocotrienols reduced cardiac numbers of mast cells and macrophages, but enhanced the expression of tissue factor. While this new rat model of localized heart irradiation does not support the use of PTX alone, the effects of tocotrienols on chronic manifestations of RIHD deserve further investigation. PMID:23894340

Free-energy-based lattice Boltzmann model for the simulation of multiphase flows with density contrast.

PubMed

Shao, J Y; Shu, C; Huang, H B; Chew, Y T

2014-03-01

A free-energy-based phase-field lattice Boltzmann method is proposed in this work to simulate multiphase flows with density contrast. The present method is to improve the Zheng-Shu-Chew (ZSC) model [Zheng, Shu, and Chew, J. Comput. Phys. 218, 353 (2006)] for correct consideration of density contrast in the momentum equation. The original ZSC model uses the particle distribution function in the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) for the mean density and momentum, which cannot properly consider the effect of local density variation in the momentum equation. To correctly consider it, the particle distribution function in the LBE must be for the local density and momentum. However, when the LBE of such distribution function is solved, it will encounter a severe numerical instability. To overcome this difficulty, a transformation, which is similar to the one used in the Lee-Lin (LL) model [Lee and Lin, J. Comput. Phys. 206, 16 (2005)] is introduced in this work to change the particle distribution function for the local density and momentum into that for the mean density and momentum. As a result, the present model still uses the particle distribution function for the mean density and momentum, and in the meantime, considers the effect of local density variation in the LBE as a forcing term. Numerical examples demonstrate that both the present model and the LL model can correctly simulate multiphase flows with density contrast, and the present model has an obvious improvement over the ZSC model in terms of solution accuracy. In terms of computational time, the present model is less efficient than the ZSC model, but is much more efficient than the LL model.

Local Climate and Energy Program Model Design Guide: Enhancing Value and Creating Lasting Programs

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Created for local climate and clean energy program implementers, learn how programs create and deliver value to target audiences and partners, how to raise revenue, and how they can operate cost effectively.

Network models provide insights into how oriens–lacunosum-moleculare and bistratified cell interactions influence the power of local hippocampal CA1 theta oscillations

PubMed Central

Ferguson, Katie A.; Huh, Carey Y. L.; Amilhon, Bénédicte; Manseau, Frédéric; Williams, Sylvain; Skinner, Frances K.

2015-01-01

Hippocampal theta is a 4–12 Hz rhythm associated with episodic memory, and although it has been studied extensively, the cellular mechanisms underlying its generation are unclear. The complex interactions between different interneuron types, such as those between oriens–lacunosum-moleculare (OLM) interneurons and bistratified cells (BiCs), make their contribution to network rhythms difficult to determine experimentally. We created network models that are tied to experimental work at both cellular and network levels to explore how these interneuron interactions affect the power of local oscillations. Our cellular models were constrained with properties from patch clamp recordings in the CA1 region of an intact hippocampus preparation in vitro. Our network models are composed of three different types of interneurons: parvalbumin-positive (PV+) basket and axo-axonic cells (BC/AACs), PV+ BiCs, and somatostatin-positive OLM cells. Also included is a spatially extended pyramidal cell model to allow for a simplified local field potential representation, as well as experimentally-constrained, theta frequency synaptic inputs to the interneurons. The network size, connectivity, and synaptic properties were constrained with experimental data. To determine how the interactions between OLM cells and BiCs could affect local theta power, we explored how the number of OLM-BiC connections and connection strength affected local theta power. We found that our models operate in regimes that could be distinguished by whether OLM cells minimally or strongly affected the power of network theta oscillations due to balances that, respectively, allow compensatory effects or not. Inactivation of OLM cells could result in no change or even an increase in theta power. We predict that the dis-inhibitory effect of OLM cells to BiCs to pyramidal cell interactions plays a critical role in the resulting power of network theta oscillations. Overall, our network models reveal a dynamic interplay between different classes of interneurons in influencing local theta power. PMID:26300744

Local effect of zoledronic acid on new bone formation in posterolateral spinal fusion with demineralized bone matrix in a murine model.

PubMed

Zwolak, Pawel; Farei-Campagna, Jan; Jentzsch, Thorsten; von Rechenberg, Brigitte; Werner, Clément M

2018-01-01

Posterolateral spinal fusion is a common orthopaedic surgery performed to treat degenerative and traumatic deformities of the spinal column. In posteriolateral spinal fusion, different osteoinductive demineralized bone matrix products have been previously investigated. We evaluated the effect of locally applied zoledronic acid in combination with commercially available demineralized bone matrix putty on new bone formation in posterolateral spinal fusion in a murine in vivo model. A posterolateral sacral spine fusion in murine model was used to evaluate the new bone formation. We used the sacral spine fusion model to model the clinical situation in which a bone graft or demineralized bone matrix is applied after dorsal instrumentation of the spine. In our study, group 1 received decortications only (n = 10), group 2 received decortication, and absorbable collagen sponge carrier, group 3 received decortication and absorbable collagen sponge carrier with zoledronic acid in dose 10 µg, group 4 received demineralized bone matrix putty (DBM putty) plus decortication (n = 10), and group 5 received DBM putty, decortication and locally applied zoledronic acid in dose 10 µg. Imaging was performed using MicroCT for new bone formation assessment. Also, murine spines were harvested for histopathological analysis 10 weeks after surgery. The surgery performed through midline posterior approach was reproducible. In group with decortication alone there was no new bone formation. Application of demineralized bone matrix putty alone produced new bone formation which bridged the S1-S4 laminae. Local application of zoledronic acid to demineralized bone matrix putty resulted in significant increase of new bone formation as compared to demineralized bone matrix putty group alone. A single local application of zoledronic acid with DBM putty during posterolateral fusion in sacral murine spine model increased significantly new bone formation in situ in our model. Therefore, our results justify further investigations to potentially use local application of zoledronic acid in future clinical studies.

Many-body localization in disorder-free systems: The importance of finite-size constraints

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Papić, Z., E-mail: zpapic@perimeterinstitute.ca; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5; Stoudenmire, E. Miles

2015-11-15

Recently it has been suggested that many-body localization (MBL) can occur in translation-invariant systems, and candidate 1D models have been proposed. We find that such models, in contrast to MBL systems with quenched disorder, typically exhibit much more severe finite-size effects due to the presence of two or more vastly different energy scales. In a finite system, this can artificially split the density of states (DOS) into bands separated by large gaps. We argue for such models to faithfully represent the thermodynamic limit behavior, the ratio of relevant coupling must exceed a certain system-size depedent cutoff, chosen such that variousmore » bands in the DOS overlap one another. Setting the parameters this way to minimize finite-size effects, we study several translation-invariant MBL candidate models using exact diagonalization. Based on diagnostics including entanglement and local observables, we observe thermal (ergodic), rather than MBL-like behavior. Our results suggest that MBL in translation-invariant systems with two or more very different energy scales is less robust than perturbative arguments suggest, possibly pointing to the importance of non-perturbative effects which induce delocalization in the thermodynamic limit.« less

The Effects of Modeled Microgravity on Nucleocytoplasmic Localization of Human Apurinic/Apyrimidinic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonda, Steve; Jackson, E.B.

2004-01-01

Exposure to space radiation and microgravity occurs to humans during space flight. In order to have accurate risk estimations, answering questions to whether increased DNA damage seen during space flight in modified by microgravity are important. Several studies have examined whether intercellular repair of radiation-induced DNA lesions are modified by microgravity. Results from these studies show no modification of the repair processes due to microgravity. However, it is known that in studies not involving radiation that microgravity interferes with normal development. Interestingly, there is no data that attempts to analyze the possible effects of microgravity on the trafficking of DNA repair proteins. In this study, we analyze the effects of modeled microgravity on nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of the human DNA repair enzyme apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1/Ref1) which is involved in base excision repair. We examined nuclear translocation of APE1 using enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fused to APE1 as a reporter. While APE1 under normal gravity showed normal nuclear localization, APE1 nuclear localization under modeled microgravity was decreased. These results suggest that nucleocytoplasmic translocation of APE1 is modified under modeled microgravity.

Local Topography Effect on Plant Area Index Profile Calculation from Small Footprint Airborne Laser Scanning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Wang, T.; Skidmore, A. K.; Heurich, M.

2016-12-01

The plant area index (PAI) profile is a quantitative description of how plants (including leaves and woody materials) are distributed vertically, as a function of height. PAI profiles can be used for many applications including biomass estimation, radiative transfer modelling, fire fuel modelling and wildlife habitat assessment. With airborne laser scanning (ALS), forest structure underneath the canopy surface can be detected. PAI profiles can be calculated through estimates of the vertically resolved gap fraction from ALS data. In this process, a gridding or aggregation step is often involved. Most current research neglects local topographic change, and utilizes a height normalization algorithm to achieve a local or relative height, implying a flat local terrain assumption inside the grid or aggregation area. However, in mountainous forest, this assumption is often not valid. Therefore, in this research, the local topographic effect on the PAI profile calculation was studied. Small footprint discrete multi-return ALS data was acquired over the Bavarian Forest National Park under leaf-off and leaf-on conditions. Ground truth data, including tree height, canopy cover, DBH as well as digital hemispherical photos, were collected in 30 plots. These plots covered a wide range of forest structure, plant species, local topography condition and understory coverage. PAI profiles were calculated both with and without height normalization. The difference between height normalized and non-normalized profiles were evaluated with the coefficient of variation of root mean squared difference (CV-RMSD). The derived metric PAI values from PAI profiles were also evaluated with ground truth PAI from the hemispherical photos. Results showed that change in local topography had significant effects on the PAI profile. The CV-RMSD between PAI profile results calculated with or without height normalization ranged from 24.5% to 163.9%. Height normalization (neglecting topography change) can lead to offsets in the height of plant material that could potentially cause large errors and uncertainty when used in applications utilizing absolute height such as radiative transfer modeling and fire fuel modelling. This research demonstrates that when calculating the PAI profile from ALS, local topography has to be taken into account.

Torsional shear flow of granular materials: shear localization and minimum energy principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artoni, Riccardo; Richard, Patrick

2018-01-01

The rheological properties of granular matter submitted to torsional shear are investigated numerically by means of discrete element method. The shear cell is made of a cylinder filled by grains which are sheared by a bumpy bottom and submitted to a vertical pressure which is applied at the top. Regimes differing by their strain localization features are observed. They originate from the competition between dissipation at the sidewalls and dissipation in the bulk of the system. The effects of the (i) the applied pressure, (ii) sidewall friction, and (iii) angular velocity are investigated. A model, based on the purely local μ (I)-rheology and a minimum energy principle is able to capture the effect of the two former quantities but unable to account the effect of the latter. Although, an ad hoc modification of the model allows to reproduce all the numerical results, our results point out the need for an alternative rheology.

Size effects and strain localization in atomic-scale cleavage modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elsner, B. A. M.; Müller, S.

2015-09-01

In this work, we study the adhesion and decohesion of Cu(1 0 0) surfaces using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. An upper stress to surface decohesion is obtained via the universal binding energy relation (UBER), but the model is limited to rigid separation of bulk-terminated surfaces. When structural relaxations are included, an unphysical size effect arises if decohesion is considered to occur as soon as the strain energy equals the energy of the newly formed surfaces. We employ the nudged elastic band (NEB) method to show that this size effect is opposed by a size-dependency of the energy barriers involved in the transition. Further, we find that the transition occurs via a localization of bond strain in the vicinity of the cleavage plane, which resembles the strain localization at the tip of a sharp crack that is predicted by linear elastic fracture mechanics.

Size effects and strain localization in atomic-scale cleavage modeling.

PubMed

Elsner, B A M; Müller, S

2015-09-04

In this work, we study the adhesion and decohesion of Cu(1 0 0) surfaces using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. An upper stress to surface decohesion is obtained via the universal binding energy relation (UBER), but the model is limited to rigid separation of bulk-terminated surfaces. When structural relaxations are included, an unphysical size effect arises if decohesion is considered to occur as soon as the strain energy equals the energy of the newly formed surfaces. We employ the nudged elastic band (NEB) method to show that this size effect is opposed by a size-dependency of the energy barriers involved in the transition. Further, we find that the transition occurs via a localization of bond strain in the vicinity of the cleavage plane, which resembles the strain localization at the tip of a sharp crack that is predicted by linear elastic fracture mechanics.

Prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in rodent models

PubMed Central

Jimenez, Joaquin J.; Roberts, Stephen M.; Mejia, Jessica; Mauro, Lucia M.; Munson, John W.; Elgart, George W.; Connelly, Elizabeth Alvarez; Chen, Qingbin; Zou, Jiangying; Goldenberg, Carlos

2008-01-01

Alopecia (hair loss) is experienced by thousands of cancer patients every year. Substantial-to-severe alopecia is induced by anthracyclines (e.g., adriamycin), taxanes (e.g., taxol), alkylating compounds (e.g., cyclophosphamide), and the topisomerase inhibitor etoposide, agents that are widely used in the treatment of leukemias and breast, lung, ovarian, and bladder cancers. Currently, no treatment appears to be generally effective in reliably preventing this secondary effect of chemotherapy. We observed in experiments using different rodent models that localized administration of heat or subcutaneous/intradermal injection of geldanamycin or 17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin induced a stress protein response in hair follicles and effectively prevented alopecia from adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, taxol, and etoposide. Model tumor therapy experiments support the presumption that such localized hair-saving treatment does not negatively affect chemotherapy efficacy. PMID:18347939

Quantifying the Effect of Pressure Sensitive Paint On Aerodynamic Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amer, T. R.; Obara, C. J.; Liu, T.

2003-01-01

A thin pressure sensitive paint (PSP) coating can slightly modify the overall shape of a wind-tunnel model and produce surface roughness or smoothness that does not exist on the unpainted model. These undesirable changes in model geometry may alter flow over the model, and affect the pressure distribution and aerodynamic forces and moments on the model. This study quantifies the effects of PSP on three models in low-speed, transonic and supersonic flow regimes. At a 95% confidence level, the PSP effects on the integrated forces are insignificant for a slender arrow-wing-fuselage model and delta wing model with two different paints at Mach 0.2, 1.8, and 2.16 relative to the total balance accuracy limit. The data displayed a repeatability of 2.5 drag counts, while the balance accuracy limit was about 5.5 drag counts. At transonic speeds, the paint has a localized effect at high angles of attack and has a resolvable effect on the normal force, which is significant relative to the balance accuracy limit. For low speeds, the PSP coating has a localized effect on the pressure tap measurements, which leads to an appreciable decrease in the pressure tap reading. Moreover, the force and moment measurements had a poor precision, which precluded the ability to measure the PSP effect for this particular test.

Hospital-Based Comparative Effectiveness Centers: Translating Research into Practice to Improve the Quality, Safety and Value of Patient Care

PubMed Central

Williams, Kendal; Brennan, Patrick J.

2010-01-01

Hospital-based comparative effectiveness (CE) centers provide a model that clinical leaders can use to improve evidence-based practice locally. The model is used by integrated health systems outside the US, but is less recognized in the US. Such centers can identify and adapt national evidence-based policies for the local setting, create local evidence-based policies in the absence of national policies, and implement evidence into practice through health information technology (HIT) and quality initiatives. Given the increasing availability of CE evidence and incentives to meaningfully use HIT, the relevance of this model to US practitioners is increasing. This is especially true in the context of healthcare reform, which will likely reduce reimbursements for care deemed unnecessary by published evidence or guidelines. There are challenges to operating hospital-based CE centers, but many of these challenges can be overcome using solutions developed by those currently leading such centers. In conclusion, these centers have the potential to improve the quality, safety and value of care locally, ultimately translating into higher quality and more cost-effective care nationally. To better understand this potential, the current activity and impact of hospital-based CE centers in the US should be rigorously examined. PMID:20697961

Sci—Fri PM: Topics — 04: What if bystander effects influence cell kill within a target volume? Potential consequences of dose heterogeneity on TCP and EUD on intermediate risk prostate patients

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Balderson, M.J.; Kirkby, C.; Department of Medical Physics, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Alberta

In vitro evidence has suggested that radiation induced bystander effects may enhance non-local cell killing which may influence radiotherapy treatment planning paradigms. This work applies a bystander effect model, which has been derived from published in vitro data, to calculate equivalent uniform dose (EUD) and tumour control probability (TCP) and compare them with predictions from standard linear quadratic (LQ) models that assume a response due only to local absorbed dose. Comparisons between the models were made under increasing dose heterogeneity scenarios. Dose throughout the CTV was modeled with normal distributions, where the degree of heterogeneity was then dictated by changingmore » the standard deviation (SD). The broad assumptions applied in the bystander effect model are intended to place an upper limit on the extent of the results in a clinical context. The bystander model suggests a moderate degree of dose heterogeneity yields as good or better outcome compared to a uniform dose in terms of EUD and TCP. Intermediate risk prostate prescriptions of 78 Gy over 39 fractions had maximum EUD and TCP values at SD of around 5Gy. The plots only dropped below the uniform dose values for SD ∼ 10 Gy, almost 13% of the prescribed dose. The bystander model demonstrates the potential to deviate from the common local LQ model predictions as dose heterogeneity through a prostate CTV is varies. The results suggest the potential for allowing some degree of dose heterogeneity within a CTV, although further investigations of the assumptions of the bystander model are warranted.« less

Evaluating meteo marine climatic model inputs for the investigation of coastal hydrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellafiore, D.; Bucchignani, E.; Umgiesser, G.

2010-09-01

One of the major aspects discussed in the recent works on climate change is how to provide information from the global scale to the local one. In fact the influence of sea level rise and changes in the meteorological conditions due to climate change in strategic areas like the coastal zone is at the base of the well known mitigation and risk assessment plans. The investigation of the coastal zone hydrodynamics, from a modeling point of view, has been the field for the connection between hydraulic models and ocean models and, in terms of process studies, finite element models have demonstrated their suitability in the reproduction of complex coastal morphology and in the capability to reproduce different spatial scale hydrodynamic processes. In this work the connection between two different model families, the climate models and the hydrodynamic models usually implemented for process studies, is tested. Together, they can be the most suitable tool for the investigation of climate change on coastal systems. A finite element model, SHYFEM (Shallow water Hydrodynamic Finite Element Model), is implemented on the Adriatic Sea, to investigate the effect of wind forcing datasets produced by different downscaling from global climate models in terms of surge and its coastal effects. The wind datasets are produced by the regional climate model COSMO-CLM (CIRA), and by EBU-POM model (Belgrade University), both downscaling from ECHAM4. As a first step the downscaled wind datasets, that have different spatial resolutions, has been analyzed for the period 1960-1990 to compare what is their capability to reproduce the measured wind statistics in the coastal zone in front of the Venice Lagoon. The particularity of the Adriatic Sea meteo climate is connected with the influence of the orography in the strengthening of winds like Bora, from North-East. The increase in spatial resolution permits the more resolved wind dataset to better reproduce meteorology and to provide a more realistic forcing for hydrodynamic simulations. After this analysis, effects on water level variations, under different wind forcing, has been analyzed to define what is the local effect on sea level changes in the coastal area of the North Adriatic. Surge statistics produced from different climate model forcings for the IPCC A1B scenario have been studied to provide local information on climate change effects on coastal hydrodynamics due to meteorological effect. This typology of application has been considered a suitable tool for coastal management and can be considered a study field that will increase its importance in the more general investigation on scale interaction processes as the effects of global scale climate phenomena on local areas.

Computational nanomedicine: modeling of nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermal cancer therapy

PubMed Central

Kaddi, Chanchala D; Phan, John H; Wang, May D

2016-01-01

Nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia for cancer therapy is a growing area of cancer nanomedicine because of the potential for localized and targeted destruction of cancer cells. Localized hyperthermal effects are dependent on many factors, including nanoparticle size and shape, excitation wavelength and power, and tissue properties. Computational modeling is an important tool for investigating and optimizing these parameters. In this review, we focus on computational modeling of magnetic and gold nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia, followed by a discussion of new opportunities and challenges. PMID:23914967

Mathematical modeling analysis of intratumoral disposition of anticancer agents and drug delivery systems.

PubMed

Popilski, Hen; Stepensky, David

2015-05-01

Solid tumors are characterized by complex morphology. Numerous factors relating to the composition of the cells and tumor stroma, vascularization and drainage of fluids affect the local microenvironment within a specific location inside the tumor. As a result, the intratumoral drug/drug delivery system (DDS) disposition following systemic or local administration is non-homogeneous and its complexity reflects the differences in the local microenvironment. Mathematical models can be used to analyze the intratumoral drug/DDS disposition and pharmacological effects and to assist in choice of optimal anticancer treatment strategies. The mathematical models that have been applied by different research groups to describe the intratumoral disposition of anticancer drugs/DDSs are summarized in this article. The properties of these models and of their suitability for prediction of the drug/DDS intratumoral disposition and pharmacological effects are reviewed. Currently available mathematical models appear to neglect some of the major factors that govern the drug/DDS intratumoral disposition, and apparently possess limited prediction capabilities. More sophisticated and detailed mathematical models and their extensive validation are needed for reliable prediction of different treatment scenarios and for optimization of drug treatment in the individual cancer patients.

Global sensitivity analysis of a local water balance model predicting evaporation, water yield and drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speich, Matthias; Zappa, Massimiliano; Lischke, Heike

2017-04-01

Evaporation and transpiration affect both catchment water yield and the growing conditions for vegetation. They are driven by climate, but also depend on vegetation, soil and land surface properties. In hydrological and land surface models, these properties may be included as constant parameters, or as state variables. Often, little is known about the effect of these variables on model outputs. In the present study, the effect of surface properties on evaporation was assessed in a global sensitivity analysis. To this effect, we developed a simple local water balance model combining state-of-the-art process formulations for evaporation, transpiration and soil water balance. The model is vertically one-dimensional, and the relative simplicity of its process formulations makes it suitable for integration in a spatially distributed model at regional scale. The main model outputs are annual total evaporation (TE, i.e. the sum of transpiration, soil evaporation and interception), and a drought index (DI), which is based on the ratio of actual and potential transpiration. This index represents the growing conditions for forest trees. The sensitivity analysis was conducted in two steps. First, a screening analysis was applied to identify unimportant parameters out of an initial set of 19 parameters. In a second step, a statistical meta-model was applied to a sample of 800 model runs, in which the values of the important parameters were varied. Parameter effect and interactions were analyzed with effects plots. The model was driven with forcing data from ten meteorological stations in Switzerland, representing a wide range of precipitation regimes across a strong temperature gradient. Of the 19 original parameters, eight were identified as important in the screening analysis. Both steps highlighted the importance of Plant Available Water Capacity (AWC) and Leaf Area Index (LAI). However, their effect varies greatly across stations. For example, while a transition from a sparse to a closed forest canopy has almost no effect on annual TE at warm and dry sites, it increases TE by up to 100 mm/year at cold-humid and warm-humid sites. Further parameters of importance describe infiltration, as well as canopy resistance and its response to environmental variables. This study offers insights for future development of hydrological and ecohydrological models. First, it shows that although local water balance is primarily controlled by climate, the vegetation and soil parameters may have a large impact on the outputs. Second, it indicates that modeling studies should prioritize a realistic parameterization of LAI and AWC, while other parameters may be set to fixed values. Third, it illustrates to which extent parameter effect and interactions depend on local climate.

Magnetic field effects on exciplex-forming systems: the effect on the locally excited fluorophore and its dependence on free energy.

PubMed

Kattnig, Daniel R; Rosspeintner, Arnulf; Grampp, Günter

2011-02-28

This study addresses magnetic field effects in exciplex forming donor-acceptor systems. For moderately exergonic systems, the exciplex and the locally excited fluorophore emission are found to be magneto-sensitive. A previously introduced model attributing this finding to excited state reversibility is confirmed. Systems characterised by a free energy of charge separation up to approximately -0.35 eV are found to exhibit a magnetic field effect on the fluorophore. A simple three-state model of the exciplex is introduced, which uses the reaction distance and the asymmetric electron transfer reaction coordinate as pertinent variables. Comparing the experimental emission band shapes with those predicted by the model, a semi-quantitative picture of the formation of the magnetic field effect is developed based on energy hypersurfaces. The model can also be applied to estimate the indirect contribution of the exchange interaction, even if the perturbative approach fails. The energetic parameters that are essential for the formation of large magnetic field effects on the exciplex are discussed.

Dynamic bulk and shear moduli due to grain-scale local fluid flow in fluid-saturated cracked poroelastic rocks: Theoretical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yongjia; Hu, Hengshan; Rudnicki, John W.

2016-07-01

Grain-scale local fluid flow is an important loss mechanism for attenuating waves in cracked fluid-saturated poroelastic rocks. In this study, a dynamic elastic modulus model is developed to quantify local flow effect on wave attenuation and velocity dispersion in porous isotropic rocks. The Eshelby transform technique, inclusion-based effective medium model (the Mori-Tanaka scheme), fluid dynamics and mass conservation principle are combined to analyze pore-fluid pressure relaxation and its influences on overall elastic properties. The derivation gives fully analytic, frequency-dependent effective bulk and shear moduli of a fluid-saturated porous rock. It is shown that the derived bulk and shear moduli rigorously satisfy the Biot-Gassmann relationship of poroelasticity in the low-frequency limit, while they are consistent with isolated-pore effective medium theory in the high-frequency limit. In particular, a simplified model is proposed to quantify the squirt-flow dispersion for frequencies lower than stiff-pore relaxation frequency. The main advantage of the proposed model over previous models is its ability to predict the dispersion due to squirt flow between pores and cracks with distributed aspect ratio instead of flow in a simply conceptual double-porosity structure. Independent input parameters include pore aspect ratio distribution, fluid bulk modulus and viscosity, and bulk and shear moduli of the solid grain. Physical assumptions made in this model include (1) pores are inter-connected and (2) crack thickness is smaller than the viscous skin depth. This study is restricted to linear elastic, well-consolidated granular rocks.

[Indicators of statin use as a model for qualitative evaluation of chronic disease management in the Local Health Unit Roma B].

PubMed

Ciaralli, Fabrizio; Summaria, Francesco; Mustilli, Marina; Vasselli, Loredana; D'Urso, Antonio; Degrassi, Flori

2010-01-01

In chronic diseases the adherence and persistence to therapeutic treatments are often lower than guidelines said. This leads to a worse therapeutic effect of the treatments and to a misuse in healthcare costs. Our study evaluates the impact of a pharmacoutilization analysis model, derived from the administrative database of the Local Health Unit Roma B. In particularly we calculate some indicators of adherence, persistence, occasional treatment and switch in patients on statins secondary prevention treatment (patients discharged from Hospital with Acute Myocardial Infarction diagnosis). The model that we developed would be successfully used in the cost-effective analysis of other drugs.

A model for discriminating reinforcers in time and space.

PubMed

Cowie, Sarah; Davison, Michael; Elliffe, Douglas

2016-06-01

Both the response-reinforcer and stimulus-reinforcer relation are important in discrimination learning; differential responding requires a minimum of two discriminably-different stimuli and two discriminably-different associated contingencies of reinforcement. When elapsed time is a discriminative stimulus for the likely availability of a reinforcer, choice over time may be modeled by an extension of the Davison and Nevin (1999) model that assumes that local choice strictly matches the effective local reinforcer ratio. The effective local reinforcer ratio may differ from the obtained local reinforcer ratio for two reasons: Because the animal inaccurately estimates times associated with obtained reinforcers, and thus incorrectly discriminates the stimulus-reinforcer relation across time; and because of error in discriminating the response-reinforcer relation. In choice-based timing tasks, the two responses are usually highly discriminable, and so the larger contributor to differences between the effective and obtained reinforcer ratio is error in discriminating the stimulus-reinforcer relation. Such error may be modeled either by redistributing the numbers of reinforcers obtained at each time across surrounding times, or by redistributing the ratio of reinforcers obtained at each time in the same way. We assessed the extent to which these two approaches to modeling discrimination of the stimulus-reinforcer relation could account for choice in a range of temporal-discrimination procedures. The version of the model that redistributed numbers of reinforcers accounted for more variance in the data. Further, this version provides an explanation for shifts in the point of subjective equality that occur as a result of changes in the local reinforcer rate. The inclusion of a parameter reflecting error in discriminating the response-reinforcer relation enhanced the ability of each version of the model to describe data. The ability of this class of model to account for a range of data suggests that timing, like other conditional discriminations, is choice under the joint discriminative control of elapsed time and differential reinforcement. Understanding the role of differential reinforcement is therefore critical to understanding control by elapsed time. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Including local rainfall dynamics and uncertain boundary conditions into a 2-D regional-local flood modelling cascade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermúdez, María; Neal, Jeffrey C.; Bates, Paul D.; Coxon, Gemma; Freer, Jim E.; Cea, Luis; Puertas, Jerónimo

2016-04-01

Flood inundation models require appropriate boundary conditions to be specified at the limits of the domain, which commonly consist of upstream flow rate and downstream water level. These data are usually acquired from gauging stations on the river network where measured water levels are converted to discharge via a rating curve. Derived streamflow estimates are therefore subject to uncertainties in this rating curve, including extrapolating beyond the maximum observed ratings magnitude. In addition, the limited number of gauges in reach-scale studies often requires flow to be routed from the nearest upstream gauge to the boundary of the model domain. This introduces additional uncertainty, derived not only from the flow routing method used, but also from the additional lateral rainfall-runoff contributions downstream of the gauging point. Although generally assumed to have a minor impact on discharge in fluvial flood modeling, this local hydrological input may become important in a sparse gauge network or in events with significant local rainfall. In this study, a method to incorporate rating curve uncertainty and the local rainfall-runoff dynamics into the predictions of a reach-scale flood inundation model is proposed. Discharge uncertainty bounds are generated by applying a non-parametric local weighted regression approach to stage-discharge measurements for two gauging stations, while measured rainfall downstream from these locations is cascaded into a hydrological model to quantify additional inflows along the main channel. A regional simplified-physics hydraulic model is then applied to combine these inputs and generate an ensemble of discharge and water elevation time series at the boundaries of a local-scale high complexity hydraulic model. Finally, the effect of these rainfall dynamics and uncertain boundary conditions are evaluated on the local-scale model. Improvements in model performance when incorporating these processes are quantified using observed flood extent data and measured water levels from a 2007 summer flood event on the river Severn. The area of interest is a 7 km reach in which the river passes through the city of Worcester, a low water slope, subcritical reach in which backwater effects are significant. For this domain, the catchment area between flow gauging stations extends over 540 km2. Four hydrological models from the FUSE framework (Framework for Understanding Structural Errors) were set up to simulate the rainfall-runoff process over this area. At this regional scale, a 2-dimensional hydraulic model that solves the local inertial approximation of the shallow water equations was applied to route the flow, whereas the full form of these equations was solved at the local scale to predict the urban flow field. This nested approach hence allows an examination of water fluxes from the catchment to the building scale, while requiring short setup and computational times. An accurate prediction of the magnitude and timing of the flood peak was obtained with the proposed method, in spite of the unusual structure of the rain episode and the complexity of the River Severn system. The findings highlight the importance of estimating boundary condition uncertainty and local rainfall contribution for accurate prediction of river flows and inundation.

Interference of Locally Forced Internal Waves in Non-Uniform Stratifications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Supekar, Rohit; Peacock, Thomas

2017-11-01

Several studies have investigated the effect of constructive or destructive interference on the transmission of internal waves propagating through non-uniform stratifications. Such studies have been performed for internal waves that are spatiotemporally harmonic. To understand the effect of localization, we perform a theoretical and experimental study of the transmission of two-dimensional internal waves that are generated by a spatiotemporally localized boundary forcing. This is done by considering an idealized problem and applying a weakly viscous semi-analytic linear model. Parametric studies using this model show that localization leads to the disappearance of transmission peaks and troughs that would otherwise be present for a harmonic forcing. Laboratory experiments that we perform provide a clear indication of this physical effect. Based on the group velocity and angle of propagation of the internal waves, a practical criteria that assesses when the transmission peaks or troughs are evident, is obtained. It is found that there is a significant difference in the predicted energy transfer due to a harmonic and non-harmonic forcing which has direct implications to various physical forcings such as a storm over the ocean.

An investigation into electromagnetic force models: differences in global and local effects demonstrated by selected problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reich, Felix A.; Rickert, Wilhelm; Müller, Wolfgang H.

2018-03-01

This study investigates the implications of various electromagnetic force models in macroscopic situations. There is an ongoing academic discussion which model is "correct," i.e., generally applicable. Often, gedankenexperiments with light waves or photons are used in order to motivate certain models. In this work, three problems with bodies at the macroscopic scale are used for computing theoretical model-dependent predictions. Two aspects are considered, total forces between bodies and local deformations. By comparing with experimental data, insight is gained regarding the applicability of the models. First, the total force between two cylindrical magnets is computed. Then a spherical magnetostriction problem is considered to show different deformation predictions. As a third example focusing on local deformations, a droplet of silicone oil in castor oil is considered, placed in a homogeneous electric field. By using experimental data, some conclusions are drawn and further work is motivated.

Incremental Learning With Selective Memory (ILSM): Towards Fast Prostate Localization for Image Guided Radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Gao, Yaozong; Zhan, Yiqiang

2015-01-01

Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) requires fast and accurate localization of the prostate in 3-D treatment-guided radiotherapy, which is challenging due to low tissue contrast and large anatomical variation across patients. On the other hand, the IGRT workflow involves collecting a series of computed tomography (CT) images from the same patient under treatment. These images contain valuable patient-specific information yet are often neglected by previous works. In this paper, we propose a novel learning framework, namely incremental learning with selective memory (ILSM), to effectively learn the patient-specific appearance characteristics from these patient-specific images. Specifically, starting with a population-based discriminative appearance model, ILSM aims to “personalize” the model to fit patient-specific appearance characteristics. The model is personalized with two steps: backward pruning that discards obsolete population-based knowledge and forward learning that incorporates patient-specific characteristics. By effectively combining the patient-specific characteristics with the general population statistics, the incrementally learned appearance model can localize the prostate of a specific patient much more accurately. This work has three contributions: 1) the proposed incremental learning framework can capture patient-specific characteristics more effectively, compared to traditional learning schemes, such as pure patient-specific learning, population-based learning, and mixture learning with patient-specific and population data; 2) this learning framework does not have any parametric model assumption, hence, allowing the adoption of any discriminative classifier; and 3) using ILSM, we can localize the prostate in treatment CTs accurately (DSC ∼0.89) and fast (∼4 s), which satisfies the real-world clinical requirements of IGRT. PMID:24495983

Position-dependent effects of polylysine on Sec protein transport.

PubMed

Liang, Fu-Cheng; Bageshwar, Umesh K; Musser, Siegfried M

2012-04-13

The bacterial Sec protein translocation system catalyzes the transport of unfolded precursor proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane. Using a recently developed real time fluorescence-based transport assay, the effects of the number and distribution of positive charges on the transport time and transport efficiency of proOmpA were examined. As expected, an increase in the number of lysine residues generally increased transport time and decreased transport efficiency. However, the observed effects were highly dependent on the polylysine position in the mature domain. In addition, a string of consecutive positive charges generally had a more significant effect on transport time and efficiency than separating the charges into two or more charged segments. Thirty positive charges distributed throughout the mature domain resulted in effects similar to 10 consecutive charges near the N terminus of the mature domain. These data support a model in which the local effects of positive charge on the translocation kinetics dominate over total thermodynamic constraints. The rapid translocation kinetics of some highly charged proOmpA mutants suggest that the charge is partially shielded from the electric field gradient during transport, possibly by the co-migration of counter ions. The transport times of precursors with multiple positively charged sequences, or "pause sites," were fairly well predicted by a local effect model. However, the kinetic profile predicted by this local effect model was not observed. Instead, the transport kinetics observed for precursors with multiple polylysine segments support a model in which translocation through the SecYEG pore is not the rate-limiting step of transport.

Position-dependent Effects of Polylysine on Sec Protein Transport*

PubMed Central

Liang, Fu-Cheng; Bageshwar, Umesh K.; Musser, Siegfried M.

2012-01-01

The bacterial Sec protein translocation system catalyzes the transport of unfolded precursor proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane. Using a recently developed real time fluorescence-based transport assay, the effects of the number and distribution of positive charges on the transport time and transport efficiency of proOmpA were examined. As expected, an increase in the number of lysine residues generally increased transport time and decreased transport efficiency. However, the observed effects were highly dependent on the polylysine position in the mature domain. In addition, a string of consecutive positive charges generally had a more significant effect on transport time and efficiency than separating the charges into two or more charged segments. Thirty positive charges distributed throughout the mature domain resulted in effects similar to 10 consecutive charges near the N terminus of the mature domain. These data support a model in which the local effects of positive charge on the translocation kinetics dominate over total thermodynamic constraints. The rapid translocation kinetics of some highly charged proOmpA mutants suggest that the charge is partially shielded from the electric field gradient during transport, possibly by the co-migration of counter ions. The transport times of precursors with multiple positively charged sequences, or “pause sites,” were fairly well predicted by a local effect model. However, the kinetic profile predicted by this local effect model was not observed. Instead, the transport kinetics observed for precursors with multiple polylysine segments support a model in which translocation through the SecYEG pore is not the rate-limiting step of transport. PMID:22367204

Limits on Lorentz violation in gravity from worldwide superconducting gravimeters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Cheng-Gang; Chen, Ya-Fen; Sun, Rong; Cao, Lu-Shuai; Zhou, Min-Kang; Hu, Zhong-Kun; Yu, Chenghui; Müller, Holger

2018-01-01

We have investigated Lorentz violation through analyzing tides-subtracted gravity data measured by superconducting gravimeters. At the level of precision of superconducting gravimeters, we have brought up and resolved an existing issue of accuracy due to unaccounted local tidal effects in previous solid-earth tidal model used. Specifically, we have taken local tides into account with a brand new first-principles tidal model with ocean tides included, as well as removed potential bias from local tides by using a worldwide array of 12 superconducting gravimeters. Compared with previous test with local gravimeters, a more accurate and competitive bound on space-space components of gravitational Lorentz violation has been achieved up to the order of 10-10.

Clothing resultant thermal insulation determined on a movable thermal manikin. Part II: effects of wind and body movement on local insulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Yehu; Wang, Faming; Wan, Xianfu; Song, Guowen; Zhang, Chengjiao; Shi, Wen

2015-10-01

Part II of this two-part series study was focused on examining the effects of wind and body movement on local clothing thermal insulation. Seventeen clothing ensembles with different layers (i.e., 1, 2, or 3 layers) were selected for this study. Local thermal insulation with different air velocities (0.15, 1.55, and 4.0 m/s) and walking speeds (0, 0.75, and 1.17 m/s) were investigated on a thermal manikin. Empirical equations for estimating local resultant clothing insulation as a function of local insulation, air velocity, and walking speed were developed. The results showed that the effects of wind and body movement on local resultant thermal resistance are complex and differ distinctively among different body parts. In general, the reductions of local insulation with wind at the chest, abdomen, and pelvis were greater than those at the lower leg and back, and the changes at the body extremity such as the forearm, thigh, and lower leg were higher than such immobile body parts as the chest and back. In addition, the wind effect interacted with the walking effect. This study may have important applications in human local thermal comfort modeling and functional clothing design.

Clothing resultant thermal insulation determined on a movable thermal manikin. Part II: effects of wind and body movement on local insulation.

PubMed

Lu, Yehu; Wang, Faming; Wan, Xianfu; Song, Guowen; Zhang, Chengjiao; Shi, Wen

2015-10-01

Part II of this two-part series study was focused on examining the effects of wind and body movement on local clothing thermal insulation. Seventeen clothing ensembles with different layers (i.e., 1, 2, or 3 layers) were selected for this study. Local thermal insulation with different air velocities (0.15, 1.55, and 4.0 m/s) and walking speeds (0, 0.75, and 1.17 m/s) were investigated on a thermal manikin. Empirical equations for estimating local resultant clothing insulation as a function of local insulation, air velocity, and walking speed were developed. The results showed that the effects of wind and body movement on local resultant thermal resistance are complex and differ distinctively among different body parts. In general, the reductions of local insulation with wind at the chest, abdomen, and pelvis were greater than those at the lower leg and back, and the changes at the body extremity such as the forearm, thigh, and lower leg were higher than such immobile body parts as the chest and back. In addition, the wind effect interacted with the walking effect. This study may have important applications in human local thermal comfort modeling and functional clothing design.

Ensemble averaging and stacking of ARIMA and GSTAR model for rainfall forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anggraeni, D.; Kurnia, I. F.; Hadi, A. F.

2018-04-01

Unpredictable rainfall changes can affect human activities, such as in agriculture, aviation, shipping which depend on weather forecasts. Therefore, we need forecasting tools with high accuracy in predicting the rainfall in the future. This research focus on local forcasting of the rainfall at Jember in 2005 until 2016, from 77 rainfall stations. The rainfall here was not only related to the occurrence of the previous of its stations, but also related to others, it’s called the spatial effect. The aim of this research is to apply the GSTAR model, to determine whether there are some correlations of spatial effect between one to another stations. The GSTAR model is an expansion of the space-time model that combines the time-related effects, the locations (stations) in a time series effects, and also the location it self. The GSTAR model will also be compared to the ARIMA model that completely ignores the independent variables. The forcested value of the ARIMA and of the GSTAR models then being combined using the ensemble forecasting technique. The averaging and stacking method of ensemble forecasting method here provide us the best model with higher acuracy model that has the smaller RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) value. Finally, with the best model we can offer a better local rainfall forecasting in Jember for the future.

Dynamic fuzzy modeling of storm water infiltration in urban fractured aquifers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hong, Y.-S.; Rosen, Michael R.; Reeves, R.R.

2002-01-01

In an urban fractured-rock aquifer in the Mt. Eden area of Auckland, New Zealand, disposal of storm water is via "soakholes" drilled directly into the top of the fractured basalt rock. The dynamic response of the groundwater level due to the storm water infiltration shows characteristics of a strongly time-varying system. A dynamic fuzzy modeling approach, which is based on multiple local models that are weighted using fuzzy membership functions, has been developed to identify and predict groundwater level fluctuations caused by storm water infiltration. The dynamic fuzzy model is initialized by the fuzzy clustering algorithm and optimized by the gradient-descent algorithm in order to effectively derive the multiple local models-each of which is associated with a locally valid model that represents the groundwater level state as a response to different intensities of rainfall events. The results have shown that even if the number of fuzzy local models derived is small, the fuzzy modeling approach developed provides good prediction results despite the highly time-varying nature of this urban fractured-rock aquifer system. Further, it allows interpretable representations of the dynamic behavior of the groundwater system due to storm water infiltration.

The evolution of dispersal in a Levins' type metapopulation model.

PubMed

Jansen, Vincent A A; Vitalis, Renaud

2007-10-01

We study the evolution of the dispersal rate in a metapopulation model with extinction and colonization dynamics, akin to the model as originally described by Levins. To do so we extend the metapopulation model with a description of the within patch dynamics. By means of a separation of time scales we analytically derive a fitness expression from first principles for this model. The fitness function can be written as an inclusive fitness equation (Hamilton's rule). By recasting this equation in a form that emphasizes the effects of competition we show the effect of the local competition and the local population size on the evolution of dispersal. We find that the evolution of dispersal cannot be easily interpreted in terms of avoidance of kin competition, but rather that increased dispersal reduces the competitive ability. Our model also yields a testable prediction in term of relatedness and life-history parameters.

Development of a recursion RNG-based turbulence model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhou, YE; Vahala, George; Thangam, S.

1993-01-01

Reynolds stress closure models based on the recursion renormalization group theory are developed for the prediction of turbulent separated flows. The proposed model uses a finite wavenumber truncation scheme to account for the spectral distribution of energy. In particular, the model incorporates effects of both local and nonlocal interactions. The nonlocal interactions are shown to yield a contribution identical to that from the epsilon-renormalization group (RNG), while the local interactions introduce higher order dispersive effects. A formal analysis of the model is presented and its ability to accurately predict separated flows is analyzed from a combined theoretical and computational stand point. Turbulent flow past a backward facing step is chosen as a test case and the results obtained based on detailed computations demonstrate that the proposed recursion -RNG model with finite cut-off wavenumber can yield very good predictions for the backstep problem.

Astrophysical uncertainties on the local dark matter distribution and direct detection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Anne M.

2017-08-01

The differential event rate in weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) direct detection experiments depends on the local dark matter density and velocity distribution. Accurate modelling of the local dark matter distribution is therefore required to obtain reliable constraints on the WIMP particle physics properties. Data analyses typically use a simple standard halo model which might not be a good approximation to the real Milky Way (MW) halo. We review observational determinations of the local dark matter density, circular speed and escape speed and also studies of the local dark matter distribution in simulated MW-like galaxies. We discuss the effects of the uncertainties in these quantities on the energy spectrum and its time and direction dependence. Finally, we conclude with an overview of various methods for handling these astrophysical uncertainties.

Three-dimensional deformable-model-based localization and recognition of road vehicles.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhaoxiang; Tan, Tieniu; Huang, Kaiqi; Wang, Yunhong

2012-01-01

We address the problem of model-based object recognition. Our aim is to localize and recognize road vehicles from monocular images or videos in calibrated traffic scenes. A 3-D deformable vehicle model with 12 shape parameters is set up as prior information, and its pose is determined by three parameters, which are its position on the ground plane and its orientation about the vertical axis under ground-plane constraints. An efficient local gradient-based method is proposed to evaluate the fitness between the projection of the vehicle model and image data, which is combined into a novel evolutionary computing framework to estimate the 12 shape parameters and three pose parameters by iterative evolution. The recovery of pose parameters achieves vehicle localization, whereas the shape parameters are used for vehicle recognition. Numerous experiments are conducted in this paper to demonstrate the performance of our approach. It is shown that the local gradient-based method can evaluate accurately and efficiently the fitness between the projection of the vehicle model and the image data. The evolutionary computing framework is effective for vehicles of different types and poses is robust to all kinds of occlusion.

Measuring and Modeling the Earth's Gravity - Introduction to Ground-Based Gravity Surveys and Analysis of Local Gravity Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rowe, Charlotte Anne

We can measure changes in gravity from place to place on the earth. These measurements require careful recording of location, elevation and time for each reading. These readings must be adjusted for known effects (such as elevation, latitude, tides) that can bias our data and mask the signal of interest. After making corrections to our data, we can remove regional trends to obtain local Bouguer anomalies. The Bouguer anomalies arise from variations in the subsurface density structure. We can build models to explain our observations, but these models must be consistent with what is known about the local geology. Combiningmore » gravity models with other information – geologic, seismic, electromagnetic, will improve confidence in the results.« less

The effectiveness of physics learning material based on South Kalimantan local wisdom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartini, Sri; Misbah, Helda, Dewantara, Dewi

2017-08-01

The local wisdom is essential element incorporated into learning process. However, there are no learning materials in Physics learning process which contain South Kalimantan local wisdom. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a Physics learning material based on South Kalimantan local wisdom. The objective of this research is to produce products in the form of learning material based on South Kalimantan local wisdom that is feasible and effective based on the validity, practicality, effectiveness of learning material and achievement of waja sampai kaputing (wasaka) character. This research is a research and development which refers to the ADDIE model. Data were obtained through the validation sheet of learning material, questionnaire, the test of learning outcomes and the sheet of character assesment. The research results showed that (1) the validity category of the learning material was very valid, (2) the practicality category of the learning material was very practical, (3) the effectiveness category of thelearning material was very effective, and (4) the achivement of wasaka characters was very good. In conclusion, the Physics learning materials based on South Kalimantan local wisdom are feasible and effective to be used in learning activities.

A novel cooperative localization algorithm using enhanced particle filter technique in maritime search and rescue wireless sensor network.

PubMed

Wu, Huafeng; Mei, Xiaojun; Chen, Xinqiang; Li, Junjun; Wang, Jun; Mohapatra, Prasant

2018-07-01

Maritime search and rescue (MSR) play a significant role in Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). However, it suffers from scenarios that the measurement information is inaccurate due to wave shadow effect when utilizing wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology in MSR. In this paper, we develop a Novel Cooperative Localization Algorithm (NCLA) in MSR by using an enhanced particle filter method to reduce measurement errors on observation model caused by wave shadow effect. First, we take into account the mobility of nodes at sea to develop a motion model-Lagrangian model. Furthermore, we introduce both state model and observation model to constitute a system model for particle filter (PF). To address the impact of the wave shadow effect on the observation model, we develop an optimal parameter derived by Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) to mitigate the error. After the optimal parameter is acquired, an improved likelihood function is presented. Finally, the estimated position is acquired. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Tightly Coupled Non-Equilibrium Magneto-Hydrodynamic Model for Inductively Coupled RF Plasmas

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-29

development a tightly coupled magneto-hydrodynamic model for Inductively Coupled Radio- Frequency (RF) Plasmas. Non Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE...for Inductively Coupled Radio-Frequency (RF) Plasmas. Non Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) effects are described based on a hybrid State-to-State... thermodynamic variable. This choice allows one to hide the non-linearity of the gas (total) thermal conductivity κ and can partially alle- 2 viate numerical

Historical deforestation locally increased the intensity of hot days in northern mid-latitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lejeune, Quentin; Davin, Edouard L.; Gudmundsson, Lukas; Winckler, Johannes; Seneviratne, Sonia I.

2018-05-01

The effects of past land-cover changes on climate are disputed1-3. Previous modelling studies have generally concluded that the biogeophysical effects of historical deforestation led to an annual mean cooling in the northern mid-latitudes3,4, in line with the albedo-induced negative radiative forcing from land-cover changes since pre-industrial time reported in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report5. However, further observational and modelling studies have highlighted strong seasonal and diurnal contrasts in the temperature response to deforestation6-10. Here, we show that historical deforestation has led to a substantial local warming of hot days over the northern mid-latitudes—a finding that contrasts with most previous model results11,12. Based on observation-constrained state-of-the-art climate-model experiments, we estimate that moderate reductions in tree cover in these regions have contributed at least one-third of the local present-day warming of the hottest day of the year since pre-industrial time, and were responsible for most of this warming before 1980. These results emphasize that land-cover changes need to be considered when studying past and future changes in heat extremes, and highlight a potentially overlooked co-benefit of forest-based carbon mitigation through local biogeophysical mechanisms.

Local Variability Mediates Vulnerability of Trout Populations to Land Use and Climate Change

PubMed Central

Penaluna, Brooke E.; Dunham, Jason B.; Railsback, Steve F.; Arismendi, Ivan; Johnson, Sherri L.; Bilby, Robert E.; Safeeq, Mohammad; Skaugset, Arne E.

2015-01-01

Land use and climate change occur simultaneously around the globe. Fully understanding their separate and combined effects requires a mechanistic understanding at the local scale where their effects are ultimately realized. Here we applied an individual-based model of fish population dynamics to evaluate the role of local stream variability in modifying responses of Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) to scenarios simulating identical changes in temperature and stream flows linked to forest harvest, climate change, and their combined effects over six decades. We parameterized the model for four neighboring streams located in a forested headwater catchment in northwestern Oregon, USA with multi-year, daily measurements of stream temperature, flow, and turbidity (2007–2011), and field measurements of both instream habitat structure and three years of annual trout population estimates. Model simulations revealed that variability in habitat conditions among streams (depth, available habitat) mediated the effects of forest harvest and climate change. Net effects for most simulated trout responses were different from or less than the sum of their separate scenarios. In some cases, forest harvest countered the effects of climate change through increased summer flow. Climate change most strongly influenced trout (earlier fry emergence, reductions in biomass of older trout, increased biomass of young-of-year), but these changes did not consistently translate into reductions in biomass over time. Forest harvest, in contrast, produced fewer and less consistent responses in trout. Earlier fry emergence driven by climate change was the most consistent simulated response, whereas survival, growth, and biomass were inconsistent. Overall our findings indicate a host of local processes can strongly influence how populations respond to broad scale effects of land use and climate change. PMID:26295478

Local variability mediates vulnerability of trout populations to land use and climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Penaluna, Brooke E.; Dunham, Jason B.; Railsback, Steve F.; Arismendi, Ivan; Johnson, Sherri L.; Bilby, Robert E; Safeeq, Mohammad; Skaugset, Arne E.

2015-01-01

Land use and climate change occur simultaneously around the globe. Fully understanding their separate and combined effects requires a mechanistic understanding at the local scale where their effects are ultimately realized. Here we applied an individual-based model of fish population dynamics to evaluate the role of local stream variability in modifying responses of Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) to scenarios simulating identical changes in temperature and stream flows linked to forest harvest, climate change, and their combined effects over six decades. We parameterized the model for four neighboring streams located in a forested headwater catchment in northwestern Oregon, USA with multi-year, daily measurements of stream temperature, flow, and turbidity (2007–2011), and field measurements of both instream habitat structure and three years of annual trout population estimates. Model simulations revealed that variability in habitat conditions among streams (depth, available habitat) mediated the effects of forest harvest and climate change. Net effects for most simulated trout responses were different from or less than the sum of their separate scenarios. In some cases, forest harvest countered the effects of climate change through increased summer flow. Climate change most strongly influenced trout (earlier fry emergence, reductions in biomass of older trout, increased biomass of young-of-year), but these changes did not consistently translate into reductions in biomass over time. Forest harvest, in contrast, produced fewer and less consistent responses in trout. Earlier fry emergence driven by climate change was the most consistent simulated response, whereas survival, growth, and biomass were inconsistent. Overall our findings indicate a host of local processes can strongly influence how populations respond to broad scale effects of land use and climate change.

Local Variability Mediates Vulnerability of Trout Populations to Land Use and Climate Change.

PubMed

Penaluna, Brooke E; Dunham, Jason B; Railsback, Steve F; Arismendi, Ivan; Johnson, Sherri L; Bilby, Robert E; Safeeq, Mohammad; Skaugset, Arne E

2015-01-01

Land use and climate change occur simultaneously around the globe. Fully understanding their separate and combined effects requires a mechanistic understanding at the local scale where their effects are ultimately realized. Here we applied an individual-based model of fish population dynamics to evaluate the role of local stream variability in modifying responses of Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) to scenarios simulating identical changes in temperature and stream flows linked to forest harvest, climate change, and their combined effects over six decades. We parameterized the model for four neighboring streams located in a forested headwater catchment in northwestern Oregon, USA with multi-year, daily measurements of stream temperature, flow, and turbidity (2007-2011), and field measurements of both instream habitat structure and three years of annual trout population estimates. Model simulations revealed that variability in habitat conditions among streams (depth, available habitat) mediated the effects of forest harvest and climate change. Net effects for most simulated trout responses were different from or less than the sum of their separate scenarios. In some cases, forest harvest countered the effects of climate change through increased summer flow. Climate change most strongly influenced trout (earlier fry emergence, reductions in biomass of older trout, increased biomass of young-of-year), but these changes did not consistently translate into reductions in biomass over time. Forest harvest, in contrast, produced fewer and less consistent responses in trout. Earlier fry emergence driven by climate change was the most consistent simulated response, whereas survival, growth, and biomass were inconsistent. Overall our findings indicate a host of local processes can strongly influence how populations respond to broad scale effects of land use and climate change.

Effect of large magnetic islands on screening of external magnetic perturbation fields at slow plasma flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, L.; Liu, Y. Q.; Huang, X.; Luan, Q.; Zhong, F. C.

2017-02-01

A toroidal resistive magneto-hydrodynamic plasma response model, involving large magnetic islands, is proposed and numerically investigated, based on local flattening of the equilibrium pressure profile near a rational surface. It is assumed that such islands can be generated near the edge of the tokamak plasma, due to the penetration of the resonant magnetic perturbations, used for the purpose of controlling the edge localized mode. Within this model, it is found that the local flattening of the equilibrium pressure helps to mitigate the toroidal curvature induced screening effect [Glasser et al., Phys. Fluids 7, 875 (1975)]—the so called Glasser-Greene-Johnson screening, when the local toroidal flow near the mode rational surface is very slow (for example, as a result of mode locking associated with the field penetration). The saturation level of the plasma response amplitude is computed, as the plasma rotation frequency approaches zero. The local modification of the plasma resistivity inside the magnetic island is found to also affect the saturation level of the plasma response at vanishing flow.

Periodically driven ergodic and many-body localized quantum systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ponte, Pedro; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1; Chandran, Anushya

2015-02-15

We study dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems whose Hamiltonian is switched between two different operators periodically in time. The eigenvalue problem of the associated Floquet operator maps onto an effective hopping problem. Using the effective model, we establish conditions on the spectral properties of the two Hamiltonians for the system to localize in energy space. We find that ergodic systems always delocalize in energy space and heat up to infinite temperature, for both local and global driving. In contrast, many-body localized systems with quenched disorder remain localized at finite energy. We support our conclusions by numerical simulations of disorderedmore » spin chains. We argue that our results hold for general driving protocols, and discuss their experimental implications.« less

Evaluation of the Geopotential value for the Local Vertical Datum of China using GRACE/GOCE GGMs and GPS/Leveling Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Lin; Li, Jiancheng; Chu, Yonghai; Zhang, Tengxu

2017-04-01

National height reference systems have conventionally been linked to the coastal local mean sea level, observed at one tide gauge, such as the China national height datum 1985. Due to the effect of the local sea surface topography, the reference level surface of local datum is inconsistent with the global datum or other local datum. In order to unify or connect the local datum to the global height datum, it is necessary to obtain the zero-height geopotential value of local datum or the height offset with respect to the global datum. The GRACE and GOCE satellite mission are promising for purposes of unification of local vertical datums because they have brought a significant improvement in modeling of low-frequency or rather medium-frequency part of the Earth's static gravity field in the past ten years. The focus of this work is directed to the evaluation of most available Global Geopotential Models (GGMs) from GOCE and GRACE, both satellite only as well as combined ones. From the evaluation with the 649 GPS/Levelling benchmarks (BMs) in China, the GOCE/GRACE GGMs provide the accuracy at 42-52cm level, up to their max degree and order. The latest release 5 DIR, TIM GGMs improve the accuracies by 6-10cm compared to the release 1 models. The DIR_R1 is based on the fewer GOCE data performs equally well with the DIR_R4 and DIR_R5 model, this is attributed to the fact that during its development which used a priori information from EIGEN-51C. The zero-height geopotential value W0LVD for the China Local Vertical Datum (LVD) is 62636855.1606m2s-2 from the originally GOCE/GRACE GGMs. Taking into account the GPS/Levelling data contains the full spectral information, and the GOCE-only or GRACE-GOCE combined model are limited to the long wavelengths. To improve the accuracy of the GGMs, it is indispensable to account for the remaining signal above this maximum degree, known as the omission error of the GGM. The effect of GRACE/GOCE omission error is investigated by extending the models with the high-resolution gravity field model EGM2008. In China, the effect of the GRACE/GOCE GGMs omission error is at the decimeter level. The combined GGMs (up to 2160 degree and order) could provide an accuracy at 20cm level, which is better than that from EGM2008. Meanwhile, if an appropriate degree and order is chosen for the GOCE-only or GRACE-GOCE combined GGMs to connect with the EGM2008, the extended GGMs provide an accuracy at 16cm level. From the extended GGMs, the geopotential value W0LVD determined for the China local vertical datum is 62636853.4351 m2s-2 indicates a bias of about 2.5649 m2/s-2 compared to the conventional value of 62,636,856.0 m2s-2. This is support by National key research and development program No:2016YFB0501702. Keywords: Global Geopotential Models; GRACE; GOCE; GPS/Levelling; zero-height geopotential

Finite-size effects in Anderson localization of one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cestari, J. C. C.; Foerster, A.; Gusmao, M. A.

We investigate the disorder-induced localization transition in Bose-Einstein condensates for the Anderson and Aubry-Andre models in the noninteracting limit using exact diagonalization. We show that, in addition to the standard superfluid fraction, other tools such as the entanglement and fidelity can provide clear signatures of the transition. Interestingly, the fidelity exhibits good sensitivity even for small lattices. Effects of the system size on these quantities are analyzed in detail, including the determination of a finite-size-scaling law for the critical disorder strength in the case of the Anderson model.

Signal detection theory applied to three visual search tasks--identification, yes/no detection and localization.

PubMed

Cameron, E Leslie; Tai, Joanna C; Eckstein, Miguel P; Carrasco, Marisa

2004-01-01

Adding distracters to a display impairs performance on visual tasks (i.e. the set-size effect). While keeping the display characteristics constant, we investigated this effect in three tasks: 2 target identification, yes-no detection with 2 targets, and 8-alternative localization. A Signal Detection Theory (SDT) model, tailored for each task, accounts for the set-size effects observed in identification and localization tasks, and slightly under-predicts the set-size effect in a detection task. Given that sensitivity varies as a function of spatial frequency (SF), we measured performance in each of these three tasks in neutral and peripheral precue conditions for each of six spatial frequencies (0.5-12 cpd). For all spatial frequencies tested, performance on the three tasks decreased as set size increased in the neutral precue condition, and the peripheral precue reduced the effect. Larger set-size effects were observed at low SFs in the identification and localization tasks. This effect can be described using the SDT model, but was not predicted by it. For each of these tasks we also established the extent to which covert attention modulates performance across a range of set sizes. A peripheral precue substantially diminished the set-size effect and improved performance, even at set size 1. These results provide support for distracter exclusion, and suggest that signal enhancement may also be a mechanism by which covert attention can impose its effect.

Relativistic effects in local inertial frames including parametrized-post-Newtonian effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahid-Saless, Bahman; Ashby, Neil

1988-09-01

We use the concept of a generalized Fermi frame to describe relativistic effects, due to local and distant sources of gravitation, on a body placed in a local inertial frame of reference. In particular we have considered a model of two spherically symmetric gravitating point sources, moving in circular orbits around a common barycenter where one of the bodies is chosen to be the local and the other the distant one. This has been done using the slow-motion, weak-field approximation and including four of the parametrized-post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters. The position of the classical center of mass must be modified when the PPN parameter ζ2 is included. We show that the main relativistic effect on a local satellite is described by the Schwarzschild field of the local body and the nonlinear term corresponding to the self-interaction of the local source with itself. There are also much smaller terms that are proportional, respectively, to the product of the potentials of local and distant bodies and to the distant body's self-interactions. The spatial axes of the local frame undergo geodetic precession. In addition we have an acceleration of the order of 10-11 cm sec-2 that vanish in the case of general relativity, which is discussed in detail.

Local Spatial Analysis and Dynamic Simulation of Childhood Obesity and Neighbourhood Walkability in a Major Canadian City.

PubMed

Shahid, Rizwan; Bertazzon, Stefania

2015-01-01

Body weight is an important indicator of current and future health and it is even more critical in children, who are tomorrow's adults. This paper analyzes the relationship between childhood obesity and neighbourhood walkability in Calgary, Canada. A multivariate analytical framework recognizes that childhood obesity is also associated with many factors, including socioeconomic status, foodscapes, and environmental factors, as well as less measurable factors, such as individual preferences, that could not be included in this analysis. In contrast with more conventional global analysis, this research employs localized analysis and assesses need-based interventions. The one-size-fit-all strategy may not effectively control obesity rates, since each neighbourhood has unique characteristics that need to be addressed individually. This paper presents an innovative framework combining local analysis with simulation modeling to analyze childhood obesity. Spatial models generally do not deal with simulation over time, making it cumbersome for health planners and policy makers to effectively design and implement interventions and to quantify their impact over time. This research fills this gap by integrating geographically weighted regression (GWR), which identifies vulnerable neighbourhoods and critical factors for childhood obesity, with simulation modeling, which evaluates the impact of the suggested interventions on the targeted neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood walkability was chosen as a potential target for localized interventions, owing to the crucial role of walking in developing a healthy lifestyle, as well as because increasing walkability is relatively more feasible and less expensive then modifying other factors, such as income. Simulation results suggest that local walkability interventions can achieve measurable declines in childhood obesity rates. The results are encouraging, as improvements are likely to compound over time. The results demonstrate that the integration of GWR and simulation modeling is effective, and the proposed framework can assist in designing local interventions to control and prevent childhood obesity.

Definitive Management of Oligometastatic Melanoma in a Murine Model Using Combined Ablative Radiation Therapy and Viral Immunotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanchard, Miran; Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota; Shim, Kevin G.

Purpose: The oligometastatic state is an intermediate state between a malignancy that can be completely eradicated with conventional modalities and one in which a palliative approach is undertaken. Clinically, high rates of local tumor control are possible with stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR), using precisely targeted, high-dose, low-fraction radiation therapy. However, in oligometastatic melanoma, virtually all patients develop progression systemically at sites not initially treated with ablative radiation therapy that cannot be managed with conventional chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We have demonstrated in mice that intravenous administration of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) expressing defined tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) generates systemic immune responsesmore » capable of clearing established tumors. Therefore, in the present preclinical study, we tested whether the combination of systemic VSV-mediated antigen delivery and SABR would be effective against oligometastatic disease. Methods and Materials: We generated a model of oligometastatic melanoma in C57BL/6 immunocompetent mice and then used a combination of SABR and systemically administered VSV-TAA viral immunotherapy to treat both local and systemic disease. Results: Our data showed that SABR generates excellent control or cure of local, clinically detectable, and accessible tumor through direct cell ablation. Also, the immunotherapeutic activity of systemically administered VSV-TAA generated T-cell responses that cleared subclinical metastatic tumors. We also showed that SABR induced weak T-cell-mediated tumor responses, which, particularly if boosted by VSV-TAA, might contribute to control of local and systemic disease. In addition, VSV-TAA therapy alone had significant effects on control of both local and metastatic tumors. Conclusions: We have shown in the present preliminary murine study using a single tumor model that this approach represents an effective, complementary combination therapy model that addresses the need for both systemic and local control in oligometastatic melanoma.« less

An empirical test of the relative and combined effects of land-cover and climate change on local colonization and extinction.

PubMed

Yalcin, Semra; Leroux, Shawn James

2018-04-14

Land-cover and climate change are two main drivers of changes in species ranges. Yet, the majority of studies investigating the impacts of global change on biodiversity focus on one global change driver and usually use simulations to project biodiversity responses to future conditions. We conduct an empirical test of the relative and combined effects of land-cover and climate change on species occurrence changes. Specifically, we examine whether observed local colonization and extinctions of North American birds between 1981-1985 and 2001-2005 are correlated with land-cover and climate change and whether bird life history and ecological traits explain interspecific variation in observed occurrence changes. We fit logistic regression models to test the impact of physical land-cover change, changes in net primary productivity, winter precipitation, mean summer temperature, and mean winter temperature on the probability of Ontario breeding bird local colonization and extinction. Models with climate change, land-cover change, and the combination of these two drivers were the top ranked models of local colonization for 30%, 27%, and 29% of species, respectively. Conversely, models with climate change, land-cover change, and the combination of these two drivers were the top ranked models of local extinction for 61%, 7%, and 9% of species, respectively. The quantitative impacts of land-cover and climate change variables also vary among bird species. We then fit linear regression models to test whether the variation in regional colonization and extinction rate could be explained by mean body mass, migratory strategy, and habitat preference of birds. Overall, species traits were weakly correlated with heterogeneity in species occurrence changes. We provide empirical evidence showing that land-cover change, climate change, and the combination of multiple global change drivers can differentially explain observed species local colonization and extinction. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Characterization of karyopherins in androgen receptor intracellular trafficking in the yeast model

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Minh M; Harmon, Robert M; Wang, Zhou

2014-01-01

Background: Mechanisms regulating androgen receptor (AR) subcellular localization represent an essential component of AR signaling. Karyopherins are a family of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking factors. In this paper, we used the yeast model to study the effects of karyopherins on the subcellular localization of the AR. Methods: Yeast mutants deficient in different nuclear transport factors were transformed with various AR based, GFP tagged constructs and their localization was monitored using microscopy. Results: We showed that yeast can mediate androgen-induced AR nuclear localization and that in addition to the import factor, Importinα/β, this process required the import karyopherin Sxm1. We also showed that a previously identified nuclear export sequence (NESAR) in the ligand binding domain of AR does not appear to rely on karyopherins for cytoplasmic localization. Conclusions: These results suggest that while AR nuclear import relies on karyopherin activity, AR nuclear export and/or cytoplasmic localization may require other undefined mechanisms. PMID:25031696

Hierarchical Feature Extraction With Local Neural Response for Image Recognition.

PubMed

Li, Hong; Wei, Yantao; Li, Luoqing; Chen, C L P

2013-04-01

In this paper, a hierarchical feature extraction method is proposed for image recognition. The key idea of the proposed method is to extract an effective feature, called local neural response (LNR), of the input image with nontrivial discrimination and invariance properties by alternating between local coding and maximum pooling operation. The local coding, which is carried out on the locally linear manifold, can extract the salient feature of image patches and leads to a sparse measure matrix on which maximum pooling is carried out. The maximum pooling operation builds the translation invariance into the model. We also show that other invariant properties, such as rotation and scaling, can be induced by the proposed model. In addition, a template selection algorithm is presented to reduce computational complexity and to improve the discrimination ability of the LNR. Experimental results show that our method is robust to local distortion and clutter compared with state-of-the-art algorithms.

Cost-effectiveness on a local level: whether and when to adopt a new technology.

PubMed

Woertman, Willem H; Van De Wetering, Gijs; Adang, Eddy M M

2014-04-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis has become a widely accepted tool for decision making in health care. The standard textbook cost-effectiveness analysis focuses on whether to make the switch from an old or common practice technology to an innovative technology, and in doing so, it takes a global perspective. In this article, we are interested in a local perspective, and we look at the questions of whether and when the switch from old to new should be made. A new approach to cost-effectiveness from a local (e.g., a hospital) perspective, by means of a mathematical model for cost-effectiveness that explicitly incorporates time, is proposed. A decision rule is derived for establishing whether a new technology should be adopted, as well as a general rule for establishing when it pays to postpone adoption by 1 more period, and a set of decision rules that can be used to determine the optimal timing of adoption. Finally, a simple example is presented to illustrate our model and how it leads to optimal decision making in a number of cases.

Study on Finite Element Model Updating in Highway Bridge Static Loading Test Using Spatially-Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors

PubMed Central

Wu, Bitao; Lu, Huaxi; Chen, Bo; Gao, Zhicheng

2017-01-01

A finite model updating method that combines dynamic-static long-gauge strain responses is proposed for highway bridge static loading tests. For this method, the objective function consisting of static long-gauge stains and the first order modal macro-strain parameter (frequency) is established, wherein the local bending stiffness, density and boundary conditions of the structures are selected as the design variables. The relationship between the macro-strain and local element stiffness was studied first. It is revealed that the macro-strain is inversely proportional to the local stiffness covered by the long-gauge strain sensor. This corresponding relation is important for the modification of the local stiffness based on the macro-strain. The local and global parameters can be simultaneously updated. Then, a series of numerical simulation and experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the static deformation, macro-strain and macro-strain modal can be predicted well by using the proposed updating model. PMID:28753912

Study on Finite Element Model Updating in Highway Bridge Static Loading Test Using Spatially-Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors.

PubMed

Wu, Bitao; Lu, Huaxi; Chen, Bo; Gao, Zhicheng

2017-07-19

A finite model updating method that combines dynamic-static long-gauge strain responses is proposed for highway bridge static loading tests. For this method, the objective function consisting of static long-gauge stains and the first order modal macro-strain parameter (frequency) is established, wherein the local bending stiffness, density and boundary conditions of the structures are selected as the design variables. The relationship between the macro-strain and local element stiffness was studied first. It is revealed that the macro-strain is inversely proportional to the local stiffness covered by the long-gauge strain sensor. This corresponding relation is important for the modification of the local stiffness based on the macro-strain. The local and global parameters can be simultaneously updated. Then, a series of numerical simulation and experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the static deformation, macro-strain and macro-strain modal can be predicted well by using the proposed updating model.

The Cool Hand Luke Effect: Failure to Communicate Effectively (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, M. A.

2010-12-01

There is a growing concern with the accelerating rate of local sea level change and its implications for local and regional planning and development. While there are a growing number of local governments that are beginning to seriously consider their adaptation options, the vast majority of local leaders have not yet developed confidence in the various scenarios that are currently available. To adequately address the range of possible impacts and options for addressing local sea level change, one must have more than high resolution data, model output and decision support tools. We need to have a better understandin of the range of likely impacts upon and the value of local ecosystem services as well as as understanding of the foundations of the local economies. A sound scientific foundation must exist to support 'decision making under uncertainty' but we also need to understand the very local specific cultural frameworks within which decision makers must work. This is why working with local civic organizations, NGOs and other boundary organizations is increasingly important.

2012 National Park visitor spending effects: economic contributions to local communities, states, and the nation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Huber, Christopher C.; Koontz, Lynne

2014-01-01

This 2012 analysis marks a major revision to the NPS visitor spending effects analyses, with the development of a new visitor spending effects model (VSE model) that replaces the former Money Generation Model (MGM2). Many of the hallmarks and processes of the MGM2 model are preserved in the new VSE model, but the new model makes significant strides in improving the accuracy and transparency of the analysis. Because of this change from the MGM2 model to the VSE model, estimates from this year’s analysis are not directly comparable to previous analyses.

Auditory Time-Frequency Masking for Spectrally and Temporally Maximally-Compact Stimuli

PubMed Central

Laback, Bernhard; Savel, Sophie; Ystad, Sølvi; Balazs, Peter; Meunier, Sabine; Kronland-Martinet, Richard

2016-01-01

Many audio applications perform perception-based time-frequency (TF) analysis by decomposing sounds into a set of functions with good TF localization (i.e. with a small essential support in the TF domain) using TF transforms and applying psychoacoustic models of auditory masking to the transform coefficients. To accurately predict masking interactions between coefficients, the TF properties of the model should match those of the transform. This involves having masking data for stimuli with good TF localization. However, little is known about TF masking for mathematically well-localized signals. Most existing masking studies used stimuli that are broad in time and/or frequency and few studies involved TF conditions. Consequently, the present study had two goals. The first was to collect TF masking data for well-localized stimuli in humans. Masker and target were 10-ms Gaussian-shaped sinusoids with a bandwidth of approximately one critical band. The overall pattern of results is qualitatively similar to existing data for long maskers. To facilitate implementation in audio processing algorithms, a dataset provides the measured TF masking function. The second goal was to assess the potential effect of auditory efferents on TF masking using a modeling approach. The temporal window model of masking was used to predict present and existing data in two configurations: (1) with standard model parameters (i.e. without efferents), (2) with cochlear gain reduction to simulate the activation of efferents. The ability of the model to predict the present data was quite good with the standard configuration but highly degraded with gain reduction. Conversely, the ability of the model to predict existing data for long maskers was better with than without gain reduction. Overall, the model predictions suggest that TF masking can be affected by efferent (or other) effects that reduce cochlear gain. Such effects were avoided in the experiment of this study by using maximally-compact stimuli. PMID:27875575

Auditory Time-Frequency Masking for Spectrally and Temporally Maximally-Compact Stimuli.

PubMed

Necciari, Thibaud; Laback, Bernhard; Savel, Sophie; Ystad, Sølvi; Balazs, Peter; Meunier, Sabine; Kronland-Martinet, Richard

2016-01-01

Many audio applications perform perception-based time-frequency (TF) analysis by decomposing sounds into a set of functions with good TF localization (i.e. with a small essential support in the TF domain) using TF transforms and applying psychoacoustic models of auditory masking to the transform coefficients. To accurately predict masking interactions between coefficients, the TF properties of the model should match those of the transform. This involves having masking data for stimuli with good TF localization. However, little is known about TF masking for mathematically well-localized signals. Most existing masking studies used stimuli that are broad in time and/or frequency and few studies involved TF conditions. Consequently, the present study had two goals. The first was to collect TF masking data for well-localized stimuli in humans. Masker and target were 10-ms Gaussian-shaped sinusoids with a bandwidth of approximately one critical band. The overall pattern of results is qualitatively similar to existing data for long maskers. To facilitate implementation in audio processing algorithms, a dataset provides the measured TF masking function. The second goal was to assess the potential effect of auditory efferents on TF masking using a modeling approach. The temporal window model of masking was used to predict present and existing data in two configurations: (1) with standard model parameters (i.e. without efferents), (2) with cochlear gain reduction to simulate the activation of efferents. The ability of the model to predict the present data was quite good with the standard configuration but highly degraded with gain reduction. Conversely, the ability of the model to predict existing data for long maskers was better with than without gain reduction. Overall, the model predictions suggest that TF masking can be affected by efferent (or other) effects that reduce cochlear gain. Such effects were avoided in the experiment of this study by using maximally-compact stimuli.

Multiscale mechanics of the lateral pressure effect on enhancing the load transfer between polymer coated CNTs.

PubMed

Yazdandoost, Fatemeh; Mirzaeifar, Reza; Qin, Zhao; Buehler, Markus J

2017-05-04

While individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are known as one of the strongest fibers ever known, even the strongest fabricated macroscale CNT yarns and fibers are still significantly weaker than individual nanotubes. The loss in mechanical properties is mainly because the deformation mechanism of CNT fibers is highly governed by the weak shear strength corresponding to sliding of nanotubes on each other. Adding polymer coating to the bundles, and twisting the CNT yarns to enhance the intertube interactions are both efficient methods to improve the mechanical properties of macroscale yarns. Here, we perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to unravel the unknown deformation mechanism in the intertube polymer chains and also local deformations of the CNTs at the atomistic scale. Our results show that the lateral pressure can have both beneficial and adverse effects on shear strength of polymer coated CNTs, depending on the local deformations at the atomistic scale. In this paper we also introduce a bottom-up bridging strategy between a full atomistic model and a coarse-grained (CG) model. Our trained CG model is capable of incorporating the atomistic scale local deformations of each CNT to the larger scale collect behavior of bundles, which enables the model to accurately predict the effect of lateral pressure on larger CNT bundles and yarns. The developed multiscale CG model is implemented to study the effect of lateral pressure on the shear strength of straight polymer coated CNT yarns, and also the effect of twisting on the pull-out force of bundles in spun CNT yarns.

Towards local progression estimation of pulmonary emphysema using CT.

PubMed

Staring, M; Bakker, M E; Stolk, J; Shamonin, D P; Reiber, J H C; Stoel, B C

2014-02-01

Whole lung densitometry on chest CT images is an accepted method for measuring tissue destruction in patients with pulmonary emphysema in clinical trials. Progression measurement is required for evaluation of change in health condition and the effect of drug treatment. Information about the location of emphysema progression within the lung may be important for the correct interpretation of drug efficacy, or for determining a treatment plan. The purpose of this study is therefore to develop and validate methods that enable the local measurement of lung density changes, which requires proper modeling of the effect of respiration on density. Four methods, all based on registration of baseline and follow-up chest CT scans, are compared. The first naïve method subtracts registered images. The second employs the so-called dry sponge model, where volume correction is performed using the determinant of the Jacobian of the transformation. The third and the fourth introduce a novel adaptation of the dry sponge model that circumvents its constant-mass assumption, which is shown to be invalid. The latter two methods require a third CT scan at a different inspiration level to estimate the patient-specific density-volume slope, where one method employs a global and the other a local slope. The methods were validated on CT scans of a phantom mimicking the lung, where mass and volume could be controlled. In addition, validation was performed on data of 21 patients with pulmonary emphysema. The image registration method was optimized leaving a registration error below half the slice increment (median 1.0 mm). The phantom study showed that the locally adapted slope model most accurately measured local progression. The systematic error in estimating progression, as measured on the phantom data, was below 2 gr/l for a 70 ml (6%) volume difference, and 5 gr/l for a 210 ml (19%) difference, if volume correction was applied. On the patient data an underlying linearity assumption relating lung volume change with density change was shown to hold (fitR(2) = 0.94), and globalized versions of the local models are consistent with global results (R(2) of 0.865 and 0.882 for the two adapted slope models, respectively). In conclusion, image matching and subsequent analysis of differences according to the proposed lung models (i) has good local registration accuracy on patient data, (ii) effectively eliminates a dependency on inspiration level at acquisition time, (iii) accurately predicts progression in phantom data, and (iv) is reasonably consistent with global results in patient data. It is therefore a potential future tool for assessing local emphysema progression in drug evaluation trials and in clinical practice.

Exploring the effect of diffuse reflection on indoor localization systems based on RSSI-VLC.

PubMed

Mohammed, Nazmi A; Elkarim, Mohammed Abd

2015-08-10

This work explores and evaluates the effect of diffuse light reflection on the accuracy of indoor localization systems based on visible light communication (VLC) in a high reflectivity environment using a received signal strength indication (RSSI) technique. The effect of the essential receiver (Rx) and transmitter (Tx) parameters on the localization error with different transmitted LED power and wall reflectivity factors is investigated at the worst Rx coordinates for a directed/overall link. Since this work assumes harsh operating conditions (i.e., a multipath model, high reflectivity surfaces, worst Rx position), an error of ≥ 1.46 m is found. To achieve a localization error in the range of 30 cm under these conditions with moderate LED power (i.e., P = 0.45 W), low reflectivity walls (i.e., ρ = 0.1) should be used, which would enable a localization error of approximately 7 mm at the room's center.

Modeling the electrostatic field localization in nanostructures based on DLC films using the tunneling microscopy methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakunin, Alexander N.; Aban'shin, Nikolay P.; Avetisyan, Yuri A.; Akchurin, Georgy G.; Akchurin, Garif G.

2018-04-01

A model for calculating the electrostatic field in the system "probe of a tunnel microscope - a nanostructure based on a DLC film" was developed. A finite-element modeling of the localization of the field was carried out, taking into account the morphological and topological features of the nanostructure. The obtained results and their interpretation contribute to the development of the concepts to the model of tunnel electric transport processes. The possibility for effective usage of the tunneling microscopy methods in the development of new nanophotonic devices is shown.

Regional Climate Change across the Continental U.S. Projected from Downscaling IPCC AR5 Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otte, T. L.; Nolte, C. G.; Otte, M. J.; Pinder, R. W.; Faluvegi, G.; Shindell, D. T.

2011-12-01

Projecting climate change scenarios to local scales is important for understanding and mitigating the effects of climate change on society and the environment. Many of the general circulation models (GCMs) that are participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) do not fully resolve regional-scale processes and therefore cannot capture local changes in temperature and precipitation extremes. We seek to project the GCM's large-scale climate change signal to the local scale using a regional climate model (RCM) by applying dynamical downscaling techniques. The RCM will be used to better understand the local changes of temperature and precipitation extremes that may result from a changing climate. Preliminary results from downscaling NASA/GISS ModelE simulations of the IPCC AR5 Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenario 6.0 will be shown. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model will be used as the RCM to downscale decadal time slices for ca. 2000 and ca. 2030 and illustrate potential changes in regional climate for the continental U.S. that are projected by ModelE and WRF under RCP6.0.

Subcellular localization for Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial proteins using linear interpolation smoothing model.

PubMed

Saini, Harsh; Raicar, Gaurav; Dehzangi, Abdollah; Lal, Sunil; Sharma, Alok

2015-12-07

Protein subcellular localization is an important topic in proteomics since it is related to a protein׳s overall function, helps in the understanding of metabolic pathways, and in drug design and discovery. In this paper, a basic approximation technique from natural language processing called the linear interpolation smoothing model is applied for predicting protein subcellular localizations. The proposed approach extracts features from syntactical information in protein sequences to build probabilistic profiles using dependency models, which are used in linear interpolation to determine how likely is a sequence to belong to a particular subcellular location. This technique builds a statistical model based on maximum likelihood. It is able to deal effectively with high dimensionality that hinders other traditional classifiers such as Support Vector Machines or k-Nearest Neighbours without sacrificing performance. This approach has been evaluated by predicting subcellular localizations of Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial proteins. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Finite Element Modeling of Laminated Composite Plates with Locally Delaminated Interface Subjected to Impact Loading

PubMed Central

Abo Sabah, Saddam Hussein; Kueh, Ahmad Beng Hong

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the effects of localized interface progressive delamination on the behavior of two-layer laminated composite plates when subjected to low velocity impact loading for various fiber orientations. By means of finite element approach, the laminae stiffnesses are constructed independently from their interface, where a well-defined virtually zero-thickness interface element is discreetly adopted for delamination simulation. The present model has the advantage of simulating a localized interfacial condition at arbitrary locations, for various degeneration areas and intensities, under the influence of numerous boundary conditions since the interfacial description is expressed discretely. In comparison, the model shows good agreement with existing results from the literature when modeled in a perfectly bonded state. It is found that as the local delamination area increases, so does the magnitude of the maximum displacement history. Also, as top and bottom fiber orientations deviation increases, both central deflection and energy absorption increase although the relative maximum displacement correspondingly decreases when in contrast to the laminates perfectly bonded state. PMID:24696668

Finite element modeling of laminated composite plates with locally delaminated interface subjected to impact loading.

PubMed

Abo Sabah, Saddam Hussein; Kueh, Ahmad Beng Hong

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the effects of localized interface progressive delamination on the behavior of two-layer laminated composite plates when subjected to low velocity impact loading for various fiber orientations. By means of finite element approach, the laminae stiffnesses are constructed independently from their interface, where a well-defined virtually zero-thickness interface element is discreetly adopted for delamination simulation. The present model has the advantage of simulating a localized interfacial condition at arbitrary locations, for various degeneration areas and intensities, under the influence of numerous boundary conditions since the interfacial description is expressed discretely. In comparison, the model shows good agreement with existing results from the literature when modeled in a perfectly bonded state. It is found that as the local delamination area increases, so does the magnitude of the maximum displacement history. Also, as top and bottom fiber orientations deviation increases, both central deflection and energy absorption increase although the relative maximum displacement correspondingly decreases when in contrast to the laminates perfectly bonded state.

Local Dielectric Property Detection of the Interface between Nanoparticle and Polymer in Nanocomposite Dielectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Simin; Zeng, Qibin; Yang, Xiao; Hu, Jun; Qiu, Xiaohui; He, Jinliang

2016-12-01

The interface between nanoparticles and polymer matrix is considered to have an important effect on the properties of nanocomposites. In this experimental study, electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) is used to study the local dielectric property of the interface of low density polyethylene (LDPE)/TiO2 nanocomposites at nanometer scale. The results show that the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles leads to a decrease in local permittivity. We then carry out the finite element simulation and confirm that the decrease of local permittivity is related to the effect of interface. According to the results, we propose several models and validate the dielectric effect and range effect of interface. Through the analysis of DSC and solid-state NMR results, we find TiO2 nanoparticles can suppress the mobility of local chain segments in the interface, which influences the dipolar polarization of chain segments in the interface and eventually results in a decrease in local permittivity. It is believed the results would provide important hint to the research of the interface in future research.

Local Dielectric Property Detection of the Interface between Nanoparticle and Polymer in Nanocomposite Dielectrics

PubMed Central

Peng, Simin; Zeng, Qibin; Yang, Xiao; Hu, Jun; Qiu, Xiaohui; He, Jinliang

2016-01-01

The interface between nanoparticles and polymer matrix is considered to have an important effect on the properties of nanocomposites. In this experimental study, electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) is used to study the local dielectric property of the interface of low density polyethylene (LDPE)/TiO2 nanocomposites at nanometer scale. The results show that the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles leads to a decrease in local permittivity. We then carry out the finite element simulation and confirm that the decrease of local permittivity is related to the effect of interface. According to the results, we propose several models and validate the dielectric effect and range effect of interface. Through the analysis of DSC and solid-state NMR results, we find TiO2 nanoparticles can suppress the mobility of local chain segments in the interface, which influences the dipolar polarization of chain segments in the interface and eventually results in a decrease in local permittivity. It is believed the results would provide important hint to the research of the interface in future research. PMID:27958347

Understanding Laterally Varying Path Effects on P/S Ratios and their Effectiveness for Event Discrimination at Local Distances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pyle, M. L.; Walter, W. R.

2017-12-01

Discrimination between underground explosions and naturally occurring earthquakes is an important endeavor for global security and test-ban treaty monitoring, and ratios of seismic P to S-wave amplitudes at regional distances have proven to be an effective discriminant. The use of the P/S ratio is rooted in the idea that explosive sources should theoretically only generate compressional energy. While, in practice, shear energy is observed from explosions, generally when corrections are made for magnitude and distance, P/S ratios from explosions are higher than those from surrounding earthquakes. At local distances (< 200 km) that might be needed to detect smaller events, however, this discriminant becomes less reliable. While ratios at some stations still show separation between earthquake and explosion populations, at other stations the populations are indistinguishable. There is no clear distance or azimuthal trend for which stations show discriminating abilities and which do not. A number of factors may play a role in differences we see between regional and local discrimination, including source effects such as depth and radiation pattern, and path effects such as laterally varying attenuation and focusing/defocusing from layers and scattering. We use data from the Source Physics Experiment (SPE) to investigate some of these effects. SPE is a series of chemical explosions at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) designed to improve our understanding and modeling capabilities of shear waves generated by explosions. Phase I consisted of 5 explosions in granite and Phase II will move to a contrasting dry alluvium geology. We apply a high-resolution 2D attenuation model to events near the NNSS to examine what effect path plays in local P/S ratios, and how well an earthquake-derived model can account for shallower explosion paths. The model incorporates both intrinsic attenuation and scattering effects and extends to 16 Hz, allowing us to make lateral path corrections and consider high-frequency ratios. Preliminary work suggests that while 2D path corrections modestly improve earthquake amplitude predictions, explosion amplitudes are not well matched, and so P/S ratios do not necessarily improve. Further work is needed to better understand the uses and limitation of 2D path corrections for local P/S ratios.

MODFLOW-LGR: Practical application to a large regional dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnes, D.; Coulibaly, K. M.

2011-12-01

In many areas of the US, including southwest Florida, large regional-scale groundwater models have been developed to aid in decision making and water resources management. These models are subsequently used as a basis for site-specific investigations. Because the large scale of these regional models is not appropriate for local application, refinement is necessary to analyze the local effects of pumping wells and groundwater related projects at specific sites. The most commonly used approach to date is Telescopic Mesh Refinement or TMR. It allows the extraction of a subset of the large regional model with boundary conditions derived from the regional model results. The extracted model is then updated and refined for local use using a variable sized grid focused on the area of interest. MODFLOW-LGR, local grid refinement, is an alternative approach which allows model discretization at a finer resolution in areas of interest and provides coupling between the larger "parent" model and the locally refined "child." In the present work, these two approaches are tested on a mining impact assessment case in southwest Florida using a large regional dataset (The Lower West Coast Surficial Aquifer System Model). Various metrics for performance are considered. They include: computation time, water balance (as compared to the variable sized grid), calibration, implementation effort, and application advantages and limitations. The results indicate that MODFLOW-LGR is a useful tool to improve local resolution of regional scale models. While performance metrics, such as computation time, are case-dependent (model size, refinement level, stresses involved), implementation effort, particularly when regional models of suitable scale are available, can be minimized. The creation of multiple child models within a larger scale parent model makes it possible to reuse the same calibrated regional dataset with minimal modification. In cases similar to the Lower West Coast model, where a model is larger than optimal for direct application as a parent grid, a combination of TMR and LGR approaches should be used to develop a suitable parent grid.

A comparison of remote vs. local influence of El Niño on the coastal circulation of the northeast Pacific

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermann, Albert J.; Curchitser, Enrique N.; Haidvogel, Dale B.; Dobbins, Elizabeth L.

2009-12-01

A set of spatially nested circulation models is used to explore interannual change in the northeast Pacific (NEP) during 1997-2002, and remote vs. local influence of the 1997-1998 El Niño on this region. Our nested set is based on the primitive equations of motion, and includes a basin-scale model of the north Pacific at ˜40-km resolution (NPac), and a regional model of the Northeast Pacific at ˜10-km resolution. The NEP model spans an area from Baja California through the Bering Sea, from the coast to ˜2000-km offshore. In this context, "remote influence" refers to effects driven by changes in ocean velocity and temperature outside of the NEP domain; "local influence" refers to direct forcing by winds and runoff within the NEP domain. A base run of this model using hindcast winds and runoff for 1996-2002 replicates the dominant spatial modes of sea-surface height anomalies from satellite data, and coastal sea level from tide gauges. We have performed a series of sensitivity runs with the NEP model for 1997-1998, which analyze the response of coastal sea level to: (1) hindcast winds and coastal runoff, as compared to their monthly climatologies and (2) hindcast boundary conditions (from the NPac model), as compared to their monthly climatologies. Results indicate penetration of sea-surface height (SSH) from the basin-scale model into the NEP domain (e.g., remote influence), with propagation as coastal trapped waves from Baja up through Alaska. Most of the coastal sea-level anomaly off Alaska in El Niño years appears due to direct forcing by local winds and runoff (local influence), and such anomalies are much stronger than those produced off California. We quantify these effects as a function of distance along the coastline, and consider how they might impact the coastal ecosystems of the NEP.

Using spatial mark-recapture for conservation monitoring of grizzly bear populations in Alberta.

PubMed

Boulanger, John; Nielsen, Scott E; Stenhouse, Gordon B

2018-03-26

One of the challenges in conservation is determining patterns and responses in population density and distribution as it relates to habitat and changes in anthropogenic activities. We applied spatially explicit capture recapture (SECR) methods, combined with density surface modelling from five grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) management areas (BMAs) in Alberta, Canada, to assess SECR methods and to explore factors influencing bear distribution. Here we used models of grizzly bear habitat and mortality risk to test local density associations using density surface modelling. Results demonstrated BMA-specific factors influenced density, as well as the effects of habitat and topography on detections and movements of bears. Estimates from SECR were similar to those from closed population models and telemetry data, but with similar or higher levels of precision. Habitat was most associated with areas of higher bear density in the north, whereas mortality risk was most associated (negatively) with density of bears in the south. Comparisons of the distribution of mortality risk and habitat revealed differences by BMA that in turn influenced local abundance of bears. Combining SECR methods with density surface modelling increases the resolution of mark-recapture methods by directly inferring the effect of spatial factors on regulating local densities of animals.

Constitutive Modeling of Nanotube-Reinforced Polymer Composite Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Odegard, Gregory M.; Harik, Vasyl M.; Wise, Kristopher E.; Gates, Thomas S.

2004-01-01

In this study, a technique has been proposed for developing constitutive models for polymer composite systems reinforced with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). Since the polymer molecules are on the same size scale as the nanotubes, the interaction at the polymer/nanotube interface is highly dependent on the local molecular structure and bonding. At these small length scales, the lattice structures of the nanotube and polymer chains cannot be considered continuous, and the bulk mechanical properties of the SWNT/polymer composites can no longer be determined through traditional micromechanical approaches that are formulated using continuum mechanics. It is proposed herein that the nanotube, the local polymer near the nanotube, and the nanotube/polymer interface can be modeled as an effective continuum fiber using an equivalent-continuum modeling method. The effective fiber retains the local molecular structure and bonding information and serves as a means for incorporating micromechanical analyses for the prediction of bulk mechanical properties of SWNT/polymer composites with various nanotube sizes and orientations. As an example, the proposed approach is used for the constitutive modeling of two SWNT/polyethylene composite systems, one with continuous and aligned SWNT and the other with discontinuous and randomly aligned nanotubes.

Constitutive Modeling of Nanotube-Reinforced Polymer Composite Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Odegard, Gregory M.; Harik, Vasyl M.; Wise, Kristopher E.; Gates, Thomas S.

2001-01-01

In this study, a technique has been proposed for developing constitutive models for polymer composite systems reinforced with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). Since the polymer molecules are on the same size scale as the nanotubes, the interaction at the polymer/nanotube interface is highly dependent on the local molecular structure and bonding. At these small length scales, the lattice structures of the nanotube and polymer chains cannot be considered continuous, and the bulk mechanical properties of the SWNT/polymer composites can no longer be determined through traditional micromechanical approaches that are formulated using continuum mechanics. It is proposed herein that the nanotube, the local polymer near the nanotube, and the nanotube/polymer interface can be modeled as an effective continuum fiber using an equivalent-continuum modeling method. The effective fiber retains the local molecular structure and bonding information and serves as a means for incorporating micromechanical analyses for the prediction of bulk mechanical properties of SWNT/polymer composites with various nanotube sizes and orientations. As an example, the proposed approach is used for the constitutive modeling of two SWNT/polyethylene composite systems, one with continuous and aligned SWNT and the other with discontinuous and randomly aligned nanotubes.

Marketing Model for Community College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chahin, Jaime

In order to survive projected enrollment decreases and to better serve nontraditional students, community colleges must develop marketing plans that make effective use of five community resources: local school system personnel, business and industry, civic and social service agencies, college personnel, and the local media. In approaching these…

Summary of Research Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elishakoff, Isaac

1998-01-01

Ten papers, published in various publications, on buckling, and the effects of imperfections on various structures are presented. These papers are: (1) Buckling mode localization in elastic plates due to misplacement in the stiffner location; (2) On vibrational imperfection sensitivity on Augusti's model structure in the vicinity of a non-linear static state; (3) Imperfection sensitivity due to elastic moduli in the Roorda Koiter frame; (4) Buckling mode localization in a multi-span periodic structure with a disorder in a single span; (5) Prediction of natural frequency and buckling load variability due to uncertainty in material properties by convex modeling; (6) Derivation of multi-dimensional ellipsoidal convex model for experimental data; (7) Passive control of buckling deformation via Anderson localization phenomenon; (8)Effect of the thickness and initial im perfection on buckling on composite cylindrical shells: asymptotic analysis and numerical results by BOSOR4 and PANDA2; (9) Worst case estimation of homology design by convex analysis; (10) Buckling of structures with uncertain imperfections - Personal perspective.

Generation of localized patterns in anharmonic lattices with cubic-quintic nonlinearities and fourth-order dispersion via a variational approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wamba, Etienne; Tchakoutio Nguetcho, Aurélien S.

2018-05-01

We use the time-dependent variational method to examine the formation of localized patterns in dynamically unstable anharmonic lattices with cubic-quintic nonlinearities and fourth-order dispersion. The governing equation is an extended nonlinear Schrödinger equation known for modified Frankel-Kontorova models of atomic lattices and here derived from an extended Bose-Hubbard model of bosonic lattices with local three-body interactions. In presence of modulated waves, we derive and investigate the ordinary differential equations for the time evolution of the amplitude and phase of dynamical perturbation. Through an effective potential, we find the modulationally unstable domains of the lattice and discuss the effect of the fourth-order dispersion in the dynamics. Direct numerical simulations are performed to support our analytical results, and a good agreement is found. Various types of localized patterns, including breathers and solitonic chirped-like pulses, form in the system as a result of interplay between the cubic-quintic nonlinearities and the second- and fourth-order dispersions.

Local responses to trauma: symptom, affect, and healing.

PubMed

Hinton, Devon E; Kirmayer, Laurence J

2013-10-01

This article provides an introduction to the thematic issue of Transcultural Psychiatry on local responses to trauma. To illustrate how local responses to trauma may be therapeutic, we consider the multiple dimensions or domains that may be targeted by healing rituals and interventions. We then outline a theoretical model of the generation of trauma-related symptoms and distress. We present the multiplex model of symptom generation which posits multiple cognitive, social, and physiological mechanisms by which various triggers can lead to severe distress among trauma victims in acute episodes, and which may be targeted in treatment. More persistent forms of distress can be explained in terms of the effects of persistent mood states and associated modes of cognitive processing and behavior that render individuals vulnerable to chronic symptoms and acute exacerbations. The beneficial effects of healing rituals and interventions may occur, in part, by inducing positive affective states associated with a flexible mind-set. We conclude by summarizing some of the contributions of the papers in this issue to understanding local therapeutic processes of healing.

Local versus global interactions in nonequilibrium transitions: A model of social dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Avella, J. C.; Eguíluz, V. M.; Cosenza, M. G.; Klemm, K.; Herrera, J. L.; San Miguel, M.

2006-04-01

A nonequilibrium system of locally interacting elements in a lattice with an absorbing order-disorder phase transition is studied under the effect of additional interacting fields. These fields are shown to produce interesting effects in the collective behavior of this system. Both for autonomous and external fields, disorder grows in the system when the probability of the elements to interact with the field is increased. There exists a threshold value of this probability beyond which the system is always disordered. The domain of parameters of the ordered regime is larger for nonuniform local fields than for spatially uniform fields. However, the zero field limit is discontinous. In the limit of vanishingly small probability of interaction with the field, autonomous or external fields are able to order a system that would fall in a disordered phase under local interactions of the elements alone. We consider different types of fields which are interpreted as forms of mass media acting on a social system in the context of Axelrod’s model for cultural dissemination.

Local versus global interactions in nonequilibrium transitions: A model of social dynamics.

PubMed

González-Avella, J C; Eguíluz, V M; Cosenza, M G; Klemm, K; Herrera, J L; San Miguel, M

2006-04-01

A nonequilibrium system of locally interacting elements in a lattice with an absorbing order-disorder phase transition is studied under the effect of additional interacting fields. These fields are shown to produce interesting effects in the collective behavior of this system. Both for autonomous and external fields, disorder grows in the system when the probability of the elements to interact with the field is increased. There exists a threshold value of this probability beyond which the system is always disordered. The domain of parameters of the ordered regime is larger for nonuniform local fields than for spatially uniform fields. However, the zero field limit is discontinous. In the limit of vanishingly small probability of interaction with the field, autonomous or external fields are able to order a system that would fall in a disordered phase under local interactions of the elements alone. We consider different types of fields which are interpreted as forms of mass media acting on a social system in the context of Axelrod's model for cultural dissemination.

Golden Eagle fatalities and the continental-scale consequences of local wind-energy generation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Katzner, Todd E.; Nelson, David M.; Braham, Melissa A.; Doyle, Jacqueline M.; Fernandez, Nadia B.; Duerr, Adam E.; Bloom, Peter H.; Fitzpatrick, Matthew C.; Miller, Tricia A.; Culver, Renee C. E.; Braswell, Loan; DeWoody, J. Andrew

2017-01-01

Renewable energy production is expanding rapidly despite mostly unknown environmental effects on wildlife and habitats. We used genetic and stable isotope data collected from Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in California in demographic models to test hypotheses about the geographic extent and demographic consequences of fatalities caused by renewable energy facilities. Geospatial analyses of δ2H values obtained from feathers showed that ≥25% of these APWRA-killed eagles were recent immigrants to the population, most from long distances away (>100 km). Data from nuclear genes indicated this subset of immigrant eagles was genetically similar to birds identified as locals from the δ2H data. Demographic models implied that in the face of this mortality, the apparent stability of the local Golden Eagle population was maintained by continental-scale immigration. These analyses demonstrate that ecosystem management decisions concerning the effects of local-scale renewable energy can have continental-scale consequences.

Golden Eagle fatalities and the continental-scale consequences of local wind-energy generation.

PubMed

Katzner, Todd E; Nelson, David M; Braham, Melissa A; Doyle, Jacqueline M; Fernandez, Nadia B; Duerr, Adam E; Bloom, Peter H; Fitzpatrick, Matthew C; Miller, Tricia A; Culver, Renee C E; Braswell, Loan; DeWoody, J Andrew

2017-04-01

Renewable energy production is expanding rapidly despite mostly unknown environmental effects on wildlife and habitats. We used genetic and stable isotope data collected from Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in California in demographic models to test hypotheses about the geographic extent and demographic consequences of fatalities caused by renewable energy facilities. Geospatial analyses of δ 2 H values obtained from feathers showed that ≥25% of these APWRA-killed eagles were recent immigrants to the population, most from long distances away (>100 km). Data from nuclear genes indicated this subset of immigrant eagles was genetically similar to birds identified as locals from the δ 2 H data. Demographic models implied that in the face of this mortality, the apparent stability of the local Golden Eagle population was maintained by continental-scale immigration. These analyses demonstrate that ecosystem management decisions concerning the effects of local-scale renewable energy can have continental-scale consequences. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Local perturbations perturb—exponentially-locally

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Roeck, W.; Schütz, M.

2015-06-01

We elaborate on the principle that for gapped quantum spin systems with local interaction, "local perturbations [in the Hamiltonian] perturb locally [the groundstate]." This principle was established by Bachmann et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 309, 835-871 (2012)], relying on the "spectral flow technique" or "quasi-adiabatic continuation" [M. B. Hastings, Phys. Rev. B 69, 104431 (2004)] to obtain locality estimates with sub-exponential decay in the distance to the spatial support of the perturbation. We use ideas of Hamza et al. [J. Math. Phys. 50, 095213 (2009)] to obtain similarly a transformation between gapped eigenvectors and their perturbations that is local with exponential decay. This allows to improve locality bounds on the effect of perturbations on the low lying states in certain gapped models with a unique "bulk ground state" or "topological quantum order." We also give some estimate on the exponential decay of correlations in models with impurities where some relevant correlations decay faster than one would naively infer from the global gap of the system, as one also expects in disordered systems with a localized groundstate.

Estimating the spatial scales of landscape effects on abundance

Treesearch

Richard Chandler; Jeffrey Hepinstall-Cymerman

2016-01-01

Spatial variation in abundance is influenced by local- and landscape-level environmental variables, but modeling landscape effects is challenging because the spatial scales of the relationships are unknown. Current approaches involve buffering survey locations with polygons of various sizes and using model selection to identify the best scale. The buffering...

A comparison of non-local electron transport models for laser-plasmas relevant to inertial confinement fusion

DOE PAGES

Sherlock, M.; Brodrick, J. P.; Ridgers, C. P.

2017-08-08

Here, we compare the reduced non-local electron transport model developed to Vlasov-Fokker-Planck simulations. Two new test cases are considered: the propagation of a heat wave through a high density region into a lower density gas, and a one-dimensional hohlraum ablation problem. We find that the reduced model reproduces the peak heat flux well in the ablation region but significantly over-predicts the coronal preheat. The suitability of the reduced model for computing non-local transport effects other than thermal conductivity is considered by comparing the computed distribution function to the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck distribution function. It is shown that even when the reduced modelmore » reproduces the correct heat flux, the distribution function is significantly different to the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck prediction. Two simple modifications are considered which improve agreement between models in the coronal region.« less

An Effective Method for Modeling Two-dimensional Sky Background of LAMOST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haerken, Hasitieer; Duan, Fuqing; Zhang, Jiannan; Guo, Ping

2017-06-01

Each CCD of LAMOST accommodates 250 spectra, while about 40 are used to observe sky background during real observations. How to estimate the unknown sky background information hidden in the observed 210 celestial spectra by using the known 40 sky spectra is the problem we solve. In order to model the sky background, usually a pre-observation is performed with all fibers observing sky background. We use the observed 250 skylight spectra as training data, where those observed by the 40 fibers are considered as a base vector set. The Locality-constrained Linear Coding (LLC) technique is utilized to represent the skylight spectra observed by the 210 fibers with the base vector set. We also segment each spectrum into small parts, and establish the local sky background model for each part. Experimental results validate the proposed method, and show the local model is better than the global model.

Two-phase vesicles: a study on evolutionary and stationary models.

PubMed

Sahebifard, MohammadMahdi; Shahidi, Alireza; Ziaei-Rad, Saeed

2017-05-01

In the current article, the dynamic evolution of two-phase vesicles is presented as an extension to a previous stationary model and based on an equilibrium of local forces. In the simplified model, ignoring the effects of membrane inertia, a dynamic equilibrium between the membrane bending potential and local fluid friction is considered in each phase. The equilibrium equations at the domain borders are completed by extended introduction of membrane section reactions. We show that in some cases, the results of stationary and evolutionary models are in agreement with each other and also with experimental observations, while in others the two models differ markedly. The value of our approach is that we can account for unresponsive points of uncertainty using our equations with the local velocity of the lipid membranes and calculating the intermediate states (shapes) in the consequent evolutionary, or response, path.

The effect of local parameters on gas turbine emissions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kauffman, C. W.; Correa, S. M.; Orozco, N. J.

1980-01-01

Gas turbine engine inlet parameters reflect changes in local atmospheric conditions. The pollutant emissions for the engine reflects these changes. In attempting to model the effect of the changing ambient conditions on the emissions it was found that these emissions exhibit an extreme sensitivity to some of the details of the combustion process such as the local fuel-air ratio and the size of the drops in the fuel spray. Fuel-air ratios have been mapped under nonburning conditions using a single JT8D-17 combustion can at simulated idle conditions, and significant variations in the local values have been found. Modelling of the combustor employs a combination of perfectly stirred and plug flow reactors including a finite rate vaporization treatment of the fuel spray. Results show that a small increase in the mean drop size can lead to a large increase in hydrocarbon emissions and decreasing the value of the CO-OH rate constant can lead to large increases in the carbon monoxide emissions. These emissions may also be affected by the spray characteristics with larger drops retarding the combustion process. Hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen emissions calculated using the model accurately reflect measured emission variations caused by changing engine inlet conditions.

The Radiative Effects of Martian Water Ice Clouds on the Local Atmospheric Temperature Profile

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colaprete, Anthony; Toon, Owen B.

2000-01-01

Mars Pathfinder made numerous discoveries, one of which was a deep temperature inversion that extended from about 15 km down to 8 km above the surface. It has been suggested by Haberle et al. (1999. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 8957-8974.) that radiative cooling by a water ice cloud may generate such an inversion. Clouds can strongly affect the local air temperature due to their ability to radiate efficiently in the infrared and due to the low air mass of the martian atmosphere, which allows the temperature to change during the relatively short lifetime of a cloud. We utilize a time-dependent microphysical aerosol model coupled to a radiative--convective model to explore the effects water ice clouds have on the local martian temperature profile. We constrain the dust and water vapor abundance using data from the Viking Missions and Mars Pathfinder. Water t ice clouds with visible optical depths of r > 0.1 form readily in these simulations. These clouds alter the local air temperature directly, through infrared cooling, and indirectly, by redistributing atmospheric dust. With this model we are able to reproduce the temperature inversions observed by Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global t Surveyor 2000 Academic Press

Two-dimensional Anderson-Hubbard model in the DMFT + {Sigma} approximation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuchinskii, E. Z., E-mail: kuchinsk@iep.uran.ru; Kuleeva, N. A.; Nekrasov, I. A.

The density of states, the dynamic (optical) conductivity, and the phase diagram of the paramagnetic two-dimensional Anderson-Hubbard model with strong correlations and disorder are analyzed within the generalized dynamical mean field theory (DMFT + {Sigma} approximation). Strong correlations are accounted by the DMFT, while disorder is taken into account via the appropriate generalization of the self-consistent theory of localization. We consider the two-dimensional system with the rectangular 'bare' density of states (DOS). The DMFT effective single-impurity problem is solved by numerical renormalization group (NRG). The 'correlated metal,' Mott insulator, and correlated Anderson insulator phases are identified from the evolution ofmore » the density of states, optical conductivity, and localization length, demonstrating both Mott-Hubbard and Anderson metal-insulator transitions in two-dimensional systems of finite size, allowing us to construct the complete zero-temperature phase diagram of the paramagnetic Anderson-Hubbard model. The localization length in our approximation is practically independent of the strength of Hubbard correlations. But the divergence of the localization length in a finite-size two-dimensional system at small disorder signifies the existence of an effective Anderson transition.« less

When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up: Working Memory and Locality Effects.

PubMed

Nicenboim, Bruno; Logačev, Pavel; Gattei, Carolina; Vasishth, Shravan

2016-01-01

We examined the effects of argument-head distance in SVO and SOV languages (Spanish and German), while taking into account readers' working memory capacity and controlling for expectation (Levy, 2008) and other factors. We predicted only locality effects, that is, a slowdown produced by increased dependency distance (Gibson, 2000; Lewis and Vasishth, 2005). Furthermore, we expected stronger locality effects for readers with low working memory capacity. Contrary to our predictions, low-capacity readers showed faster reading with increased distance, while high-capacity readers showed locality effects. We suggest that while the locality effects are compatible with memory-based explanations, the speedup of low-capacity readers can be explained by an increased probability of retrieval failure. We present a computational model based on ACT-R built under the previous assumptions, which is able to give a qualitative account for the present data and can be tested in future research. Our results suggest that in some cases, interpreting longer RTs as indexing increased processing difficulty and shorter RTs as facilitation may be too simplistic: The same increase in processing difficulty may lead to slowdowns in high-capacity readers and speedups in low-capacity ones. Ignoring individual level capacity differences when investigating locality effects may lead to misleading conclusions.

When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up: Working Memory and Locality Effects

PubMed Central

Nicenboim, Bruno; Logačev, Pavel; Gattei, Carolina; Vasishth, Shravan

2016-01-01

We examined the effects of argument-head distance in SVO and SOV languages (Spanish and German), while taking into account readers' working memory capacity and controlling for expectation (Levy, 2008) and other factors. We predicted only locality effects, that is, a slowdown produced by increased dependency distance (Gibson, 2000; Lewis and Vasishth, 2005). Furthermore, we expected stronger locality effects for readers with low working memory capacity. Contrary to our predictions, low-capacity readers showed faster reading with increased distance, while high-capacity readers showed locality effects. We suggest that while the locality effects are compatible with memory-based explanations, the speedup of low-capacity readers can be explained by an increased probability of retrieval failure. We present a computational model based on ACT-R built under the previous assumptions, which is able to give a qualitative account for the present data and can be tested in future research. Our results suggest that in some cases, interpreting longer RTs as indexing increased processing difficulty and shorter RTs as facilitation may be too simplistic: The same increase in processing difficulty may lead to slowdowns in high-capacity readers and speedups in low-capacity ones. Ignoring individual level capacity differences when investigating locality effects may lead to misleading conclusions. PMID:27014113

Very high resolution Earth Observation features for testing the direct and indirect effects of landscape structure on local habitat quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mairota, Paola; Cafarelli, Barbara; Labadessa, Rocco; Lovergine, Francesco P.; Tarantino, Cristina; Nagendra, Harini; Didham, Raphael K.

2015-02-01

Modelling the empirical relationships between habitat quality and species distribution patterns is the first step to understanding human impacts on biodiversity. It is important to build on this understanding to develop a broader conceptual appreciation of the influence of surrounding landscape structure on local habitat quality, across multiple spatial scales. Traditional models which report that 'habitat amount' in the landscape is sufficient to explain patterns of biodiversity, irrespective of habitat configuration or spatial variation in habitat quality at edges, implicitly treat each unit of habitat as interchangeable and ignore the high degree of interdependence between spatial components of land-use change. Here, we test the contrasting hypothesis, that local habitat units are not interchangeable in their habitat attributes, but are instead dependent on variation in surrounding habitat structure at both patch- and landscape levels. As the statistical approaches needed to implement such hierarchical causal models are observation-intensive, we utilise very high resolution (VHR) Earth Observation (EO) images to rapidly generate fine-grained measures of habitat patch internal heterogeneities over large spatial extents. We use linear mixed-effects models to test whether these remotely-sensed proxies for habitat quality were influenced by surrounding patch or landscape structure. The results demonstrate the significant influence of surrounding patch and landscape context on local habitat quality. They further indicate that such an influence can be direct, when a landscape variable alone influences the habitat structure variable, and/or indirect when the landscape and patch attributes have a conjoined effect on the response variable. We conclude that a substantial degree of interaction among spatial configuration effects is likely to be the norm in determining the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation, thus corroborating the notion of the spatial context dependence of habitat quality.

A new fault diagnosis algorithm for AUV cooperative localization system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Hongyang; Miao, Zhiyong; Zhang, Yi

2017-10-01

Multiple AUVs cooperative localization as a new kind of underwater positioning technology, not only can improve the positioning accuracy, but also has many advantages the single AUV does not have. It is necessary to detect and isolate the fault to increase the reliability and availability of the AUVs cooperative localization system. In this paper, the Extended Multiple Model Adaptive Cubature Kalmam Filter (EMMACKF) method is presented to detect the fault. The sensor failures are simulated based on the off-line experimental data. Experimental results have shown that the faulty apparatus can be diagnosed effectively using the proposed method. Compared with Multiple Model Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter and Multi-Model Adaptive Unscented Kalman Filter, both accuracy and timelines have been improved to some extent.

Modeling of Particulate Emissions

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

Concern Local Air Quality - A Continuing Concern Ground Level Troposphere Ozone Layer Depletion • H2O Ozone Depletion (ice formation) 5 Modeling... Ozone & Smog Formation Health Effects Local Air Quality 33,000-58,000 ft• NOx •Traffic Growth • CO2* • NOx O3* • NOx Reduces CH4 • H2O Vapor...Particulates • SOx Cloud Formation Global Warming * - Greenhouse Gases Ozone Layer Depletion - Not an Immediate Concern Global Warming - An Emerging

Development of Ultra Long Duration Local Anesthetic Agents in a Rat Model

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-02-24

this formulation is not toxic to the spinal cord. Initial trials with lecithin-coated bupivacaine microcrystals indic,-.. that this preparation also has...an ultra long duration local anesthetic effect, producing a 43 hour block in the rat tail. Clinical trials of this preparation in a human model are...l f _ _ _ Memorandum for LTC Dean E. Calcagni, M.D. Director, Combat Casualty Research Program USAMRDC Subject: Annual Report for Clinical

Toward electroweak scale cold dark matter with local dark gauge symmetry and beyond the DM EFT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ko, Pyungwon, E-mail: pko@kias.re.kr

2016-06-21

In this talk, I describe a class of electroweak (EW) scale dark matter (DM) models where its stability or longevity are the results of underlying dark gauge symmetries: stable due to unbroken local dark gauge symmetry or topology, or long-lived due to the accidental global symmetry of dark gauge theories. Compared with the usual phenomenological dark matter models (including DM EFT or simplified DM models), DM models with local dark gauge symmetries include dark gauge bosons, dark Higgs bosons and sometimes excited dark matter. And dynamics among these fields are completely fixed by local gauge principle. The idea of singletmore » portals including the Higgs portal can thermalize these hidden sector dark matter very efficiently, so that these DM could be easily thermal DM. I also discuss the limitation of the usual DM effective field theory or simplified DM models without the full SM gauge symmetry, and emphasize the importance of the full SM gauge symmetry and renormalizability especially for collider searches for DM.« less

Bayesian comparison of protein structures using partial Procrustes distance.

PubMed

Ejlali, Nasim; Faghihi, Mohammad Reza; Sadeghi, Mehdi

2017-09-26

An important topic in bioinformatics is the protein structure alignment. Some statistical methods have been proposed for this problem, but most of them align two protein structures based on the global geometric information without considering the effect of neighbourhood in the structures. In this paper, we provide a Bayesian model to align protein structures, by considering the effect of both local and global geometric information of protein structures. Local geometric information is incorporated to the model through the partial Procrustes distance of small substructures. These substructures are composed of β-carbon atoms from the side chains. Parameters are estimated using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach. We evaluate the performance of our model through some simulation studies. Furthermore, we apply our model to a real dataset and assess the accuracy and convergence rate. Results show that our model is much more efficient than previous approaches.

Computation of turbulent rotating channel flow with an algebraic Reynolds stress model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warfield, M. J.; Lakshminarayana, B.

1986-01-01

An Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model has been implemented to modify the Kolmogorov-Prandtl eddy viscosity relation to produce an anisotropic turbulence model. The eddy viscosity relation becomes a function of the local turbulent production to dissipation ratio and local turbulence/rotation parameters. The model is used to predict fully-developed rotating channel flow over a diverse range of rotation numbers. In addition, predictions are obtained for a developing channel flow with high rotation. The predictions are compared with the experimental data available. Good predictions are achieved for mean velocity and wall shear stress over most of the rotation speeds tested. There is some prediction breakdown at high rotation (rotation number greater than .10) where the effects of the rotation on turbulence become quite complex. At high rotation and low Reynolds number, the laminarization on the trailing side represents a complex effect of rotation which is difficult to predict with the described models.

Sulfur Dioxide Designations and Implementation Modeling Guidance and Assistance

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The information and links here are intended to help inform and assist Regional, State, Local, and Tribal modelers with respect to designation and implementation modeling for the 1-hour SO2 NAAQS that became effective on June 2, 2010.

Effect of wave localization on plasma instabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levedahl, William Kirk

1987-10-01

The Anderson model of wave localization in random media is involved to study the effect of solar wind density turbulence on plasma processes associated with the solar type III radio burst. ISEE-3 satellite data indicate that a possible model for the type III process is the parametric decay of Langmuir waves excited by solar flare electron streams into daughter electromagnetic and ion acoustic waves. The threshold for this instability, however, is much higher than observed Langmuir wave levels because of rapid wave convection of the transverse electromagnetic daughter wave in the case where the solar wind is assumed homogeneous. Langmuir and transverse waves near critical density satisfy the Ioffe-Reigel criteria for wave localization in the solar wind with observed density fluctuations -1 percent. Numerical simulations of wave propagation in random media confirm the localization length predictions of Escande and Souillard for stationary density fluctations. For mobile density fluctuations localized wave packets spread at the propagation velocity of the density fluctuations rather than the group velocity of the waves. Computer simulations using a linearized hybrid code show that an electron beam will excite localized Langmuir waves in a plasma with density turbulence. An action principle approach is used to develop a theory of non-linear wave processes when waves are localized. A theory of resonant particles diffusion by localized waves is developed to explain the saturation of the beam-plasma instability. It is argued that localization of electromagnetic waves will allow the instability threshold to be exceeded for the parametric decay discussed above.

Real-time prediction of respiratory motion based on a local dynamic model in an augmented space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, S.-M.; Jung, B.-H.; Ruan, D.

2011-03-01

Motion-adaptive radiotherapy aims to deliver ablative radiation dose to the tumor target with minimal normal tissue exposure, by accounting for real-time target movement. In practice, prediction is usually necessary to compensate for system latency induced by measurement, communication and control. This work focuses on predicting respiratory motion, which is most dominant for thoracic and abdominal tumors. We develop and investigate the use of a local dynamic model in an augmented space, motivated by the observation that respiratory movement exhibits a locally circular pattern in a plane augmented with a delayed axis. By including the angular velocity as part of the system state, the proposed dynamic model effectively captures the natural evolution of respiratory motion. The first-order extended Kalman filter is used to propagate and update the state estimate. The target location is predicted by evaluating the local dynamic model equations at the required prediction length. This method is complementary to existing work in that (1) the local circular motion model characterizes 'turning', overcoming the limitation of linear motion models; (2) it uses a natural state representation including the local angular velocity and updates the state estimate systematically, offering explicit physical interpretations; (3) it relies on a parametric model and is much less data-satiate than the typical adaptive semiparametric or nonparametric method. We tested the performance of the proposed method with ten RPM traces, using the normalized root mean squared difference between the predicted value and the retrospective observation as the error metric. Its performance was compared with predictors based on the linear model, the interacting multiple linear models and the kernel density estimator for various combinations of prediction lengths and observation rates. The local dynamic model based approach provides the best performance for short to medium prediction lengths under relatively low observation rate. Sensitivity analysis indicates its robustness toward the choice of parameters. Its simplicity, robustness and low computation cost makes the proposed local dynamic model an attractive tool for real-time prediction with system latencies below 0.4 s.

Real-time prediction of respiratory motion based on a local dynamic model in an augmented space.

PubMed

Hong, S-M; Jung, B-H; Ruan, D

2011-03-21

Motion-adaptive radiotherapy aims to deliver ablative radiation dose to the tumor target with minimal normal tissue exposure, by accounting for real-time target movement. In practice, prediction is usually necessary to compensate for system latency induced by measurement, communication and control. This work focuses on predicting respiratory motion, which is most dominant for thoracic and abdominal tumors. We develop and investigate the use of a local dynamic model in an augmented space, motivated by the observation that respiratory movement exhibits a locally circular pattern in a plane augmented with a delayed axis. By including the angular velocity as part of the system state, the proposed dynamic model effectively captures the natural evolution of respiratory motion. The first-order extended Kalman filter is used to propagate and update the state estimate. The target location is predicted by evaluating the local dynamic model equations at the required prediction length. This method is complementary to existing work in that (1) the local circular motion model characterizes 'turning', overcoming the limitation of linear motion models; (2) it uses a natural state representation including the local angular velocity and updates the state estimate systematically, offering explicit physical interpretations; (3) it relies on a parametric model and is much less data-satiate than the typical adaptive semiparametric or nonparametric method. We tested the performance of the proposed method with ten RPM traces, using the normalized root mean squared difference between the predicted value and the retrospective observation as the error metric. Its performance was compared with predictors based on the linear model, the interacting multiple linear models and the kernel density estimator for various combinations of prediction lengths and observation rates. The local dynamic model based approach provides the best performance for short to medium prediction lengths under relatively low observation rate. Sensitivity analysis indicates its robustness toward the choice of parameters. Its simplicity, robustness and low computation cost makes the proposed local dynamic model an attractive tool for real-time prediction with system latencies below 0.4 s.

A robust and fast active contour model for image segmentation with intensity inhomogeneity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Keyan; Weng, Guirong

2018-04-01

In this paper, a robust and fast active contour model is proposed for image segmentation in the presence of intensity inhomogeneity. By introducing the local image intensities fitting functions before the evolution of curve, the proposed model can effectively segment images with intensity inhomogeneity. And the computation cost is low because the fitting functions do not need to be updated in each iteration. Experiments have shown that the proposed model has a higher segmentation efficiency compared to some well-known active contour models based on local region fitting energy. In addition, the proposed model is robust to initialization, which allows the initial level set function to be a small constant function.

Development and Implementation of Dynamic Scripts to Support Local Model Verification at National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zavordsky, Bradley; Case, Jonathan L.; Gotway, John H.; White, Kristopher; Medlin, Jeffrey; Wood, Lance; Radell, Dave

2014-01-01

Local modeling with a customized configuration is conducted at National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) to produce high-resolution numerical forecasts that can better simulate local weather phenomena and complement larger scale global and regional models. The advent of the Environmental Modeling System (EMS), which provides a pre-compiled version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and wrapper Perl scripts, has enabled forecasters to easily configure and execute the WRF model on local workstations. NWS WFOs often use EMS output to help in forecasting highly localized, mesoscale features such as convective initiation, the timing and inland extent of lake effect snow bands, lake and sea breezes, and topographically-modified winds. However, quantitatively evaluating model performance to determine errors and biases still proves to be one of the challenges in running a local model. Developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the Model Evaluation Tools (MET) verification software makes performing these types of quantitative analyses easier, but operational forecasters do not generally have time to familiarize themselves with navigating the sometimes complex configurations associated with the MET tools. To assist forecasters in running a subset of MET programs and capabilities, the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has developed and transitioned a set of dynamic, easily configurable Perl scripts to collaborating NWS WFOs. The objective of these scripts is to provide SPoRT collaborating partners in the NWS with the ability to evaluate the skill of their local EMS model runs in near real time with little prior knowledge of the MET package. The ultimate goal is to make these verification scripts available to the broader NWS community in a future version of the EMS software. This paper provides an overview of the SPoRT MET scripts, instructions for how the scripts are run, and example use cases.

Decoherence and dissipation for a quantum system coupled to a local environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gallis, Michael R.

1994-01-01

Decoherence and dissipation in quantum systems has been studied extensively in the context of Quantum Brownian Motion. Effective decoherence in coarse grained quantum systems has been a central issue in recent efforts by Zurek and by Hartle and Gell-Mann to address the Quantum Measurement Problem. Although these models can yield very general classical phenomenology, they are incapable of reproducing relevant characteristics expected of a local environment on a quantum system, such as the characteristic dependence of decoherence on environment spatial correlations. I discuss the characteristics of Quantum Brownian Motion in a local environment by examining aspects of first principle calculations and by the construction of phenomenological models. Effective quantum Langevin equations and master equations are presented in a variety of representations. Comparisons are made with standard results such as the Caldeira-Leggett master equation.

Robust hashing with local models for approximate similarity search.

PubMed

Song, Jingkuan; Yang, Yi; Li, Xuelong; Huang, Zi; Yang, Yang

2014-07-01

Similarity search plays an important role in many applications involving high-dimensional data. Due to the known dimensionality curse, the performance of most existing indexing structures degrades quickly as the feature dimensionality increases. Hashing methods, such as locality sensitive hashing (LSH) and its variants, have been widely used to achieve fast approximate similarity search by trading search quality for efficiency. However, most existing hashing methods make use of randomized algorithms to generate hash codes without considering the specific structural information in the data. In this paper, we propose a novel hashing method, namely, robust hashing with local models (RHLM), which learns a set of robust hash functions to map the high-dimensional data points into binary hash codes by effectively utilizing local structural information. In RHLM, for each individual data point in the training dataset, a local hashing model is learned and used to predict the hash codes of its neighboring data points. The local models from all the data points are globally aligned so that an optimal hash code can be assigned to each data point. After obtaining the hash codes of all the training data points, we design a robust method by employing l2,1 -norm minimization on the loss function to learn effective hash functions, which are then used to map each database point into its hash code. Given a query data point, the search process first maps it into the query hash code by the hash functions and then explores the buckets, which have similar hash codes to the query hash code. Extensive experimental results conducted on real-life datasets show that the proposed RHLM outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of search quality and efficiency.

Langerhans Cells Maintain Local Tissue Tolerance in a Model of Systemic Autoimmune Disease1

PubMed Central

King, Jennifer K.; Philips, Rachael L.; Eriksson, Anna U.; Kim, Peter J.; Halder, Ramesh C.; Lee, Delphine J.; Singh, Ram Raj

2015-01-01

Systemic autoimmune diseases such as lupus affect multiple organs, usually in a diverse fashion where only certain organs are affected in individual patients. It is unclear whether the ‘local’ immune cells play a role in regulating tissue specificity in relation to disease heterogeneity in systemic autoimmune diseases. Here, we used skin as a model to determine the role of tissue-resident dendritic cells in local and systemic involvement within a systemic lupus disease model. Skin-resident dendritic cells, namely Langerhans cells (LC), have been implicated in regulating tolerance or autoimmunity using elegant transgenic models, however, their role in local versus systemic immune regulation is unknown. We demonstrate that while lymphocytes from skin-draining lymph nodes of autoimmune-prone MRL/MpJ-Faslpr/lpr mice react spontaneously to a physiological skin self-Ag desmoglein-3, epicutaneous applications of desmoglein-3 induced tolerance that is dependent on LCs. Inducible ablation of LCs in adult, preclinical MRL/MpJ-Faslpr/lpr and MRL/MpJ-Fas+/+ mice resulted in increased autoantibodies against skin Ags and markedly accelerated lupus dermatitis with increased local macrophage infiltration, but had no effect on systemic autoantibodies such as anti-dsDNA Abs or disease in other organs such as kidneys, lung, and liver. Furthermore, skin-draining lymph nodes of LC-ablated MRL/MpJ-Faslpr/lpr mice had significantly fewer CD4+ T-cells producing anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 than LC-intact controls. These results indicate that a skin-resident dendritic cell population regulates local tolerance in systemic lupus and emphasize the importance of the local immune milieu in preventing tissue-specific autoimmunity yet have no effect on systemic autoimmunity. PMID:26071559

Analytical modeling of localized surface plasmon resonance in heterostructure copper sulfide nanocrystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Caldwell, Andrew H.; Ha, Don-Hyung; Ding, Xiaoyue

2014-10-28

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in semiconductor nanocrystals is a relatively new field of investigation that promises greater tunability of plasmonic properties compared to metal nanoparticles. A novel process by which the LSPR in semiconductor nanocrystals can be altered is through heterostructure formation arising from solution-based cation exchange. Herein, we describe the development of an analytical model of LSPR in heterostructure copper sulfide-zinc sulfide nanocrystals synthesized via a cation exchange reaction between copper sulfide (Cu 1.81S) nanocrystals and Zn ions. The cation exchange reaction produces dual-interface, heterostructure nanocrystals in which the geometry of the copper sulfide phase can be tunedmore » from a sphere to a thin disk separating symmetrically-grown sulfide (ZnS) grains. Drude model electronic conduction and Mie-Gans theory are applied to describe how the LSPR wavelength changes during cation exchange, taking into account the morphology evolution and changes to the local permittivity. The results of the modeling indicate that the presence of the ZnS grains has a significant effect on the out-of-plane LSPR mode. By comparing the results of the model to previous studies on solid-solid phase transformations of copper sulfide in these nanocrystals during cation exchange, we show that the carrier concentration is independent of the copper vacancy concentration dictated by its atomic phase. The evolution of the effective carrier concentration calculated from the model suggests that the out-of-plane resonance mode is dominant. The classical model was compared to a simplified quantum mechanical model which suggested that quantum mechanical effects become significant when the characteristic size is less than ~8 nm. Overall, we find that the analytical models are not accurate for these heterostructured semiconductor nanocrystals, indicating the need for new model development for this emerging field.« less

Analytical modeling of localized surface plasmon resonance in heterostructure copper sulfide nanocrystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caldwell, Andrew H.; Ha, Don-Hyung; Ding, Xiaoyue; Robinson, Richard D.

2014-10-01

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in semiconductor nanocrystals is a relatively new field of investigation that promises greater tunability of plasmonic properties compared to metal nanoparticles. A novel process by which the LSPR in semiconductor nanocrystals can be altered is through heterostructure formation arising from solution-based cation exchange. Herein, we describe the development of an analytical model of LSPR in heterostructure copper sulfide-zinc sulfide nanocrystals synthesized via a cation exchange reaction between copper sulfide (Cu1.81S) nanocrystals and Zn ions. The cation exchange reaction produces dual-interface, heterostructure nanocrystals in which the geometry of the copper sulfide phase can be tuned from a sphere to a thin disk separating symmetrically-grown sulfide (ZnS) grains. Drude model electronic conduction and Mie-Gans theory are applied to describe how the LSPR wavelength changes during cation exchange, taking into account the morphology evolution and changes to the local permittivity. The results of the modeling indicate that the presence of the ZnS grains has a significant effect on the out-of-plane LSPR mode. By comparing the results of the model to previous studies on solid-solid phase transformations of copper sulfide in these nanocrystals during cation exchange, we show that the carrier concentration is independent of the copper vacancy concentration dictated by its atomic phase. The evolution of the effective carrier concentration calculated from the model suggests that the out-of-plane resonance mode is dominant. The classical model was compared to a simplified quantum mechanical model which suggested that quantum mechanical effects become significant when the characteristic size is less than ˜8 nm. Overall, we find that the analytical models are not accurate for these heterostructured semiconductor nanocrystals, indicating the need for new model development for this emerging field.

Interplay between the Localization and Kinetics of Phosphorylation in Flagellar Pole Development of the Bacterium Caulobacter crescentus

PubMed Central

Tropini, Carolina; Huang, Kerwyn Casey

2012-01-01

Bacterial cells maintain sophisticated levels of intracellular organization that allow for signal amplification, response to stimuli, cell division, and many other critical processes. The mechanisms underlying localization and their contribution to fitness have been difficult to uncover, due to the often challenging task of creating mutants with systematically perturbed localization but normal enzymatic activity, and the lack of quantitative models through which to interpret subtle phenotypic changes. Focusing on the model bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, which generates two different types of daughter cells from an underlying asymmetric distribution of protein phosphorylation, we use mathematical modeling to investigate the contribution of the localization of histidine kinases to the establishment of cellular asymmetry and subsequent developmental outcomes. We use existing mutant phenotypes and fluorescence data to parameterize a reaction-diffusion model of the kinases PleC and DivJ and their cognate response regulator DivK. We then present a systematic computational analysis of the effects of changes in protein localization and abundance to determine whether PleC localization is required for correct developmental timing in Caulobacter. Our model predicts the developmental phenotypes of several localization mutants, and suggests that a novel strain with co-localization of PleC and DivJ could provide quantitative insight into the signaling threshold required for flagellar pole development. Our analysis indicates that normal development can be maintained through a wide range of localization phenotypes, and that developmental defects due to changes in PleC localization can be rescued by increased PleC expression. We also show that the system is remarkably robust to perturbation of the kinetic parameters, and while the localization of either PleC or DivJ is required for asymmetric development, the delocalization of one of these two components does not prevent flagellar pole development. We further find that allosteric regulation of PleC observed in vitro does not affect the predicted in vivo developmental phenotypes. Taken together, our model suggests that cells can tolerate perturbations to localization phenotypes, whose evolutionary origins may be connected with reducing protein expression or with decoupling pre- and post-division phenotypes. PMID:22876167

Phonon Effects on Charge Transport Through a Two State Molecule

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulloa, Sergio E.; Yudiarsah, Efta

2008-03-01

We study the effect of local and non-local phonon on the transport properties of a molecule model described by two- electronic states. The local phonon interaction is tackled by means of a Lang Firsov transformation [1,2]. The interaction with non-local phonons (phonon-assisted hopping) is considered perturbatively up to the first nonzero order in the self energy. The presence of different kinds of electron-phonon interaction open new transmission channels. In addition to the polaron shift and replicas due to local phonons, non-local phonons cause the appearance of new satellite states around the initial states. In the weak coupling regime of non-local phonon and electrons, states are shifted an amount proportional to square of the interaction. However, in the strong coupling regime, the non-linear effects emerge and display more interesting features on transport properties. Additional features on transport properties due to new transmission channel are shown to appear at finite temperatures. [1] G. D. Mahan, Many-particle physics, 3rd ed. (Plenum Publishers, New York, 2000). [2] R. Gutierrez et al., Phys. Rev. B. 74, 235105 (2006).

Global and Local Partitioning of the Charge Transferred in the Parr-Pearson Model.

PubMed

Orozco-Valencia, Angel Ulises; Gázquez, José L; Vela, Alberto

2017-05-25

Through a simple proposal, the charge transfer obtained from the cornerstone theory of Parr and Pearson is partitioned, for each reactant, in two channels: an electrophilic, through which the species accepts electrons, and the other, a nucleophilic, where the species donates electrons. It is shown that this global model allows us to determine unambiguously the charge-transfer mechanism prevailing in a given reaction. The partitioning is extended to include local effects through the Fukui functions of the reactants. This local model is applied to several emblematic reactions in organic and inorganic chemistry, and we show that besides improving the correlations obtained with the global model it provides valuable information concerning the atoms in the reactants playing the most important roles in the reaction and thus improving our understanding of the reaction under study.

Rainfall-triggered shallow landslides at catchment scale: Threshold mechanics-based modeling for abruptness and localization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Ruette, J.; Lehmann, P.; Or, D.

2013-10-01

Rainfall-induced shallow landslides may occur abruptly without distinct precursors and could span a wide range of soil mass released during a triggering event. We present a rainfall-induced landslide-triggering model for steep catchments with surfaces represented as an assembly of hydrologically and mechanically interconnected soil columns. The abruptness of failure was captured by defining local strength thresholds for mechanical bonds linking soil and bedrock and adjacent columns, whereby a failure of a single bond may initiate a chain reaction of subsequent failures, culminating in local mass release (a landslide). The catchment-scale hydromechanical landslide-triggering model (CHLT) was applied to results from two event-based landslide inventories triggered by two rainfall events in 2002 and 2005 in two nearby catchments located in the Prealps in Switzerland. Rainfall radar data, surface elevation and vegetation maps, and a soil production model for soil depth distribution were used for hydromechanical modeling of failure patterns for the two rainfall events at spatial and temporal resolutions of 2.5 m and 0.02 h, respectively. The CHLT model enabled systematic evaluation of the effects of soil type, mechanical reinforcement (soil cohesion and lateral root strength), and initial soil water content on landslide characteristics. We compared various landslide metrics and spatial distribution of simulated landslides in subcatchments with observed inventory data. Model parameters were optimized for the short but intense rainfall event in 2002, and the calibrated model was then applied for the 2005 rainfall, yielding reasonable predictions of landslide events and volumes and statistically reproducing localized landslide patterns similar to inventory data. The model provides a means for identifying local hot spots and offers insights into the dynamics of locally resolved landslide hazards in mountainous regions.

Mesoscale data assimilation for a local severe rainfall event with the NHM-LETKF system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunii, M.

2013-12-01

This study aims to improve forecasts of local severe weather events through data assimilation and ensemble forecasting approaches. Here, the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) is implemented with the Japan Meteorological Agency's nonhydrostatic model (NHM). The newly developed NHM-LETKF contains an adaptive inflation scheme and a spatial covariance localization scheme with physical distance. One-way nested analysis in which a finer-resolution LETKF is conducted by using the outputs of an outer model also becomes feasible. These new contents should enhance the potential of the LETKF for convective scale events. The NHM-LETKF is applied to a local severe rainfall event in Japan in 2012. Comparison of the root mean square errors between the model first guess and analysis reveals that the system assimilates observations appropriately. Analysis ensemble spreads indicate a significant increase around the time torrential rainfall occurred, which would imply an increase in the uncertainty of environmental fields. Forecasts initialized with LETKF analyses successfully capture intense rainfalls, suggesting that the system can work effectively for local severe weather. Investigation of probabilistic forecasts by ensemble forecasting indicates that this could become a reliable data source for decision making in the future. A one-way nested data assimilation scheme is also tested. The experiment results demonstrate that assimilation with a finer-resolution model provides an advantage in the quantitative precipitation forecasting of local severe weather conditions.

A realistic host-vector transmission model for describing malaria prevalence pattern.

PubMed

Mandal, Sandip; Sinha, Somdatta; Sarkar, Ram Rup

2013-12-01

Malaria continues to be a major public health concern all over the world even after effective control policies have been employed, and considerable understanding of the disease biology have been attained, from both the experimental and modelling perspective. Interactions between different general and local processes, such as dependence on age and immunity of the human host, variations of temperature and rainfall in tropical and sub-tropical areas, and continued presence of asymptomatic infections, regulate the host-vector interactions, and are responsible for the continuing disease prevalence pattern.In this paper, a general mathematical model of malaria transmission is developed considering short and long-term age-dependent immunity of human host and its interaction with pathogen-infected mosquito vector. The model is studied analytically and numerically to understand the role of different parameters related to mosquitoes and humans. To validate the model with a disease prevalence pattern in a particular region, real epidemiological data from the north-eastern part of India was used, and the effect of seasonal variation in mosquito density was modelled based on local climactic data. The model developed based on general features of host-vector interactions, and modified simply incorporating local environmental factors with minimal changes, can successfully explain the disease transmission process in the region. This provides a general approach toward modelling malaria that can be adapted to control future outbreaks of malaria.

Reduced-form air quality modeling for community-scale ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Transportation plays an important role in modern society, but its impact on air quality has been shown to have significant adverse effects on public health. Numerous reviews (HEI, CDC, WHO) summarizing findings of hundreds of studies conducted mainly in the last decade, conclude that exposures to traffic emissions near roads are a public health concern. The Community LINE Source Model (C-LINE) is a web-based model designed to inform the community user of local air quality impacts due to roadway vehicles in their region of interest using a simplified modeling approach. Reduced-form air quality modeling is a useful tool for examining what-if scenarios of changes in emissions, such as those due to changes in traffic volume, fleet mix, or vehicle speed. Examining various scenarios of air quality impacts in this way can identify potentially at-risk populations located near roadways, and the effects that a change in traffic activity may have on them. C-LINE computes dispersion of primary mobile source pollutants using meteorological conditions for the region of interest and computes air-quality concentrations corresponding to these selected conditions. C-LINE functionality has been expanded to model emissions from port-related activities (e.g. ships, trucks, cranes, etc.) in a reduced-form modeling system for local-scale near-port air quality analysis. This presentation describes the Community modeling tools C-LINE and C-PORT that are intended to be used by local gove

Local application of an ibandronate/collagen sponge improves femoral fracture healing in ovariectomized rats

PubMed Central

Liu, Yansong; Hou, Zhiyong; Chen, Wei; Jin, Lin; Tian, Ye; Ju, Linlin; Liu, Bo; Dong, Tianhua; Zhang, Fei

2017-01-01

Non-union is a major clinical problem in the healing of fractures, especially in patients with osteoporosis. The systemic administration of drugs is time consuming and large doses are demanding and act slowly, whereas local release acts rapidly, increases the quality and quantity of the bone tissue. We hypothesize that local delivery demonstrates better therapeutic effects on an osteoporotic fracture. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of the local application of ibandronate loaded with a collagen sponge on regulating bone formation and remodeling in an osteoporotic rat model of fracture healing. We found that the local delivery of ibandronate exhibited excellent effects on improving the bone microarchitecture and suppressed effects on bone remodeling. At 4 weeks, more callus formation and improvement of mechanical character and microstructure were observed in a local delivery via μCT, mechanical test, histological research and serum analysis. The suppression of bone remodeling was compared with a systemic treatment at 12 weeks, and the structural mechanical properties and microarchitecture were also improved with local delivery. This research identifies an earlier, safer and integrated approach for local delivery of ibandronate with collagen and provides a better strategy for the treatment of osteoporotic fracture in rats. PMID:29108027

Local Interactions of Hydrometeors by Diffusion in Mixed-Phase Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumgartner, Manuel; Spichtinger, Peter

2017-04-01

Mixed-phase clouds, containing both ice particles and liquid droplets, are important for the Earth-Atmosphere system. They modulate the radiation budget by a combination of albedo effect and greenhouse effect. In contrast to liquid water clouds, the radiative impact of clouds containing ice particles is still uncertain. Scattering and absorption highly depends in microphysical properties of ice crystals, e.g. size and shape. In addition, most precipitation on Earth forms via the ice phase. Thus, better understanding of ice processes as well as their representation in models is required. A key process for determining shape and size of ice crystals is diffusional growth. Diffusion processes in mixed-phase clouds are highly uncertain; in addition they are usually highly simplified in cloud models, especially in bulk microphysics parameterizations. The direct interaction between cloud droplets and ice particles, due to spatial inhomogeneities, is ignored; the particles can only interact via their environmental conditions. Local effects as supply of supersaturation due to clusters of droplets around ice particles are usually not represented, although they form the physical basis of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process. We present direct numerical simulations of the interaction of single ice particles and droplets, especially their local competition for the available water vapor. In addition, we show an approach to parameterize local interactions by diffusion. The suggested parameterization uses local steady-state solutions of the diffusion equations for water vapor for an ice particle as well as a droplet. The individual solutions are coupled together to obtain the desired interaction. We show some results of the scheme as implemented in a parcel model.

Mechanical hypersensitivity, sympathetic sprouting, and glial activation are attenuated by local injection of corticosteroid near the lumbar ganglion in a rat model of neuropathic pain.

PubMed

Li, Jing-Yi; Xie, Wenrui; Strong, Judith A; Guo, Qu-Lian; Zhang, Jun-Ming

2011-01-01

Inflammatory responses in the lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG) play a key role in pathologic pain states. Systemic administration of a common anti-inflammatory corticosteroid, triamcinolone acetonide (TA), reduces sympathetic sprouting, mechanical pain behavior, spontaneous bursting activity, and cytokine and nerve growth factor production in the DRG. We hypothesized that systemic TA effects are primarily due to local effects on the DRG. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: SNL (tight ligation and transection of spinal nerves) and normal with and without a single dose of TA injectable suspension slowly injected onto the surface of DRG and surrounding region at the time of SNL or sham surgery. Mechanical threshold was tested on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, and 7. Immunohistochemical staining examined tyrosine hydroxylase and glial fibrillary acidic protein in DRG and CD11B antibody (OX-42) in spinal cord. Local TA treatment attenuated mechanical sensitivity, reduced sympathetic sprouting in the DRG, and decreased satellite glia activation in the DRG and microglia activation in the spinal cord after SNL. A single injection of corticosteroid in the vicinity of the axotomized DRG can mimic many effects of systemic TA, mitigating behavioral and cellular abnormalities induced by spinal nerve ligation. This provides a further rationale for the use of localized steroid injections clinically and provides further support for the idea that localized inflammation at the level of the DRG is an important component of the spinal nerve ligation model, commonly classified as neuropathic pain model.

Urban Runoff: Model Ordinances for Aquatic Buffers

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Aquatic Buffers serve as natural boundaries between local waterways and existing development. The model and example ordinaces below provide suggested language or technical guidance designed to create the most effective stream buffer zones possible.

Characterizing and Addressing the Need for Statistical Adjustment of Global Climate Model Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, K. D.; Baker, B.; Mueller, C.; Villarini, G.; Foley, P.; Friedman, D.

2017-12-01

As part of its mission to research and measure the effects of the changing climate, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) regularly uses the World Climate Research Programme's Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) multi-model dataset. However, these data are generated at a global level and are not fine-tuned for specific watersheds. This often causes CMIP5 output to vary from locally observed patterns in the climate. Several downscaling methods have been developed to increase the resolution of the CMIP5 data and decrease systemic differences to support decision-makers as they evaluate results at the watershed scale. Evaluating preliminary comparisons of observed and projected flow frequency curves over the US revealed a simple framework for water resources decision makers to plan and design water resources management measures under changing conditions using standard tools. Using this framework as a basis, USACE has begun to explore to use of statistical adjustment to alter global climate model data to better match the locally observed patterns while preserving the general structure and behavior of the model data. When paired with careful measurement and hypothesis testing, statistical adjustment can be particularly effective at navigating the compromise between the locally observed patterns and the global climate model structures for decision makers.

Local air gap thickness and contact area models for realistic simulation of human thermo-physiological response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Psikuta, Agnes; Mert, Emel; Annaheim, Simon; Rossi, René M.

2018-02-01

To evaluate the quality of new energy-saving and performance-supporting building and urban settings, the thermal sensation and comfort models are often used. The accuracy of these models is related to accurate prediction of the human thermo-physiological response that, in turn, is highly sensitive to the local effect of clothing. This study aimed at the development of an empirical regression model of the air gap thickness and the contact area in clothing to accurately simulate human thermal and perceptual response. The statistical model predicted reliably both parameters for 14 body regions based on the clothing ease allowances. The effect of the standard error in air gap prediction on the thermo-physiological response was lower than the differences between healthy humans. It was demonstrated that currently used assumptions and methods for determination of the air gap thickness can produce a substantial error for all global, mean, and local physiological parameters, and hence, lead to false estimation of the resultant physiological state of the human body, thermal sensation, and comfort. Thus, this model may help researchers to strive for improvement of human thermal comfort, health, productivity, safety, and overall sense of well-being with simultaneous reduction of energy consumption and costs in built environment.

Analytical model of threshold voltage degradation due to localized charges in gate material engineered Schottky barrier cylindrical GAA MOSFETs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Manoj; Haldar, Subhasis; Gupta, Mridula; Gupta, R. S.

2016-10-01

The threshold voltage degradation due to the hot carrier induced localized charges (LC) is a major reliability concern for nanoscale Schottky barrier (SB) cylindrical gate all around (GAA) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). The degradation physics of gate material engineered (GME)-SB-GAA MOSFETs due to LC is still unexplored. An explicit threshold voltage degradation model for GME-SB-GAA-MOSFETs with the incorporation of localized charges (N it) is developed. To accurately model the threshold voltage the minimum channel carrier density has been taken into account. The model renders how +/- LC affects the device subthreshold performance. One-dimensional (1D) Poisson’s and 2D Laplace equations have been solved for two different regions (fresh and damaged) with two different gate metal work-functions. LCs are considered at the drain side with low gate metal work-function as N it is more vulnerable towards the drain. For the reduction of carrier mobility degradation, a lightly doped channel has been considered. The proposed model also includes the effect of barrier height lowering at the metal-semiconductor interface. The developed model results have been verified using numerical simulation data obtained by the ATLAS-3D device simulator and excellent agreement is observed between analytical and simulation results.

3D Mechanical Models of Crustal Deformation and the Effect of Erosion on the Strain Pattern in SE Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barker, A. D.; Koons, P. O.; Upton, P.; Hallet, B.

2008-12-01

Employing 3D mechanical modeling to investigate the susceptibility of strain patterns to distinct erosion conditions we have identified a strong connection between surface erosion and strain localization and vertical motion of crustal material. The specific model geometry and boundary conditions are relevant to the dynamic St. Elias orogen of SE Alaska, but the general results and interpretations are universal. To illustrate the effect of erosion we compare results to a reference model without imposed erosion. We consider the crustal response to boundary conditions representing erosion scenarios: 1) regional erosion (~1 mm a-1 over a region ~600 km on a side) and 2) focused incision (~6 mm a-1 in valleys ~10 km wide and 50-100 km long). Whereas regional erosion mimics broader scale mass wasting and periglacial weathering, focused incision represents efficient erosion confined to valley systems similar to the massive Bering, Malaspina and Bagley glaciers of the St. Elias range. Using these boundary conditions we demonstrate significant localization of strain and crustal uplift beneath the sites of erosion. We also show the strain localization pattern adjusts to spatial shifts in erosion arising from substantial (order of 100km) glacial advance or retreat. The magnitude of the strain is higher in each erosion model compared to the reference model. The difference of the strain magnitude between erosion models and reference model depends on the location of the imposed erosion: crustal strain localize most when the forethrust daylights in the zone being eroded. Sustained focused erosion decreases the overall crustal strength beneath the site of erosion due to thinning of the strong brittle crust. Strain naturally concentrates within the weakened zone. Upward advection of warm crust causes further weakening and thereby leads to a tectonic aneurysm.

Surface plasmon resonances of arbitrarily shaped nanometallic structures in the small-screening-length limit

PubMed Central

Giannini, Vincenzo; Maier, Stefan A.; Craster, Richard V.

2016-01-01

According to the hydrodynamic Drude model, surface plasmon resonances of metallic nanostructures blueshift owing to the non-local response of the metal’s electron gas. The screening length characterizing the non-local effect is often small relative to the overall dimensions of the metallic structure, which enables us to derive a coarse-grained non-local description using matched asymptotic expansions; a perturbation theory for the blueshifts of arbitrary-shaped nanometallic structures is then developed. The effect of non-locality is not always a perturbation and we present a detailed analysis of the ‘bonding’ modes of a dimer of nearly touching nanowires where the leading-order eigenfrequencies and eigenmode distributions are shown to be a renormalization of those predicted assuming a local metal permittivity. PMID:27493575

Global effects of local food-production crises: a virtual water perspective

PubMed Central

Tamea, Stefania; Laio, Francesco; Ridolfi, Luca

2016-01-01

By importing food and agricultural goods, countries cope with the heterogeneous global water distribution and often rely on water resources available abroad. The virtual displacement of the water used to produce such goods (known as virtual water) connects together, in a global water system, all countries participating to the international trade network. Local food-production crises, having social, economic or environmental origin, propagate in this network, modifying the virtual water trade and perturbing local and global food availability, quantified in terms of virtual water. We analyze here the possible effects of local crises by developing a new propagation model, parsimonious but grounded on data-based and statistically-verified assumptions, whose effectiveness is proved on the Argentinean crisis in 2008–09. The model serves as the basis to propose indicators of crisis impact and country vulnerability to external food-production crises, which highlight that countries with largest water resources have the highest impact on the international trade, and that not only water-scarce but also wealthy and globalized countries are among the most vulnerable to external crises. The temporal analysis reveals that global average vulnerability has increased over time and that stronger effects of crises are now found in countries with low food (and water) availability. PMID:26804492

Global effects of local food-production crises: a virtual water perspective.

PubMed

Tamea, Stefania; Laio, Francesco; Ridolfi, Luca

2016-01-25

By importing food and agricultural goods, countries cope with the heterogeneous global water distribution and often rely on water resources available abroad. The virtual displacement of the water used to produce such goods (known as virtual water) connects together, in a global water system, all countries participating to the international trade network. Local food-production crises, having social, economic or environmental origin, propagate in this network, modifying the virtual water trade and perturbing local and global food availability, quantified in terms of virtual water. We analyze here the possible effects of local crises by developing a new propagation model, parsimonious but grounded on data-based and statistically-verified assumptions, whose effectiveness is proved on the Argentinean crisis in 2008-09. The model serves as the basis to propose indicators of crisis impact and country vulnerability to external food-production crises, which highlight that countries with largest water resources have the highest impact on the international trade, and that not only water-scarce but also wealthy and globalized countries are among the most vulnerable to external crises. The temporal analysis reveals that global average vulnerability has increased over time and that stronger effects of crises are now found in countries with low food (and water) availability.

Global effects of local food-production crises: a virtual water perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamea, Stefania; Laio, Francesco; Ridolfi, Luca

2016-01-01

By importing food and agricultural goods, countries cope with the heterogeneous global water distribution and often rely on water resources available abroad. The virtual displacement of the water used to produce such goods (known as virtual water) connects together, in a global water system, all countries participating to the international trade network. Local food-production crises, having social, economic or environmental origin, propagate in this network, modifying the virtual water trade and perturbing local and global food availability, quantified in terms of virtual water. We analyze here the possible effects of local crises by developing a new propagation model, parsimonious but grounded on data-based and statistically-verified assumptions, whose effectiveness is proved on the Argentinean crisis in 2008-09. The model serves as the basis to propose indicators of crisis impact and country vulnerability to external food-production crises, which highlight that countries with largest water resources have the highest impact on the international trade, and that not only water-scarce but also wealthy and globalized countries are among the most vulnerable to external crises. The temporal analysis reveals that global average vulnerability has increased over time and that stronger effects of crises are now found in countries with low food (and water) availability.

BMY 30047: A novel topically active retinoid with low local and systemic toxicity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nair, X.; Quigley, J.; Tramposch, K.M.

In the treatment of various dermatological disorders, topically applied retinoids have potential therapeutic use with the advantage of improved localized activity and lower toxicity over systemically administered retinoids. However, most retinoids cause a significant degree of local irritation. In the present study, the ability to produce local activity with low local irritation potential was evaluated with a novel retinoic acid derivative. BMY 30047 (11-cis, 13-cis-12-hydroxymethylretinoic acid delta-lactone) is one of a series of retinoic acid derivatives in which the carboxyl function of the polar end was modified with the aim of achieving reduced local irritation and systemic toxicity while retainingmore » the local therapeutic effect. BMY 30047 was evaluated and compared with all-trans retinoic acid for topical retinoid activity in several preclinical assay systems, including the utricle reduction assay in rhino mice, 12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate ester-stimulated ornithine decarboxylase induction in hairless mice and the UV light-induced photodamaged skin model in hairless mice. BMY 30047 was assessed for retinoid-type side effects by evaluating the skin irritation potential in rabbits after repeated topical application, and hypervitaminosis A-inducing potential in mice after i.p. injection. BMY 30047 demonstrated significant topical retinoid activity in several in vivo models with less skin irritation potential relative to the most used clinical concentrations of all-trans retinoic acid. BMY 30047 also showed very little systemic activity and did not produce any evidence of hypervitaminosis A syndrome at systemic doses 20 times greater than the no-effect dose of all-trans retinoic acid.« less

Landscape effects on mallard habitat selection at multiple spatial scales during the non-breeding period

USGS Publications Warehouse

Beatty, William S.; Webb, Elisabeth B.; Kesler, Dylan C.; Raedeke, Andrew H.; Naylor, Luke W.; Humburg, Dale D.

2014-01-01

Previous studies that evaluated effects of landscape-scale habitat heterogeneity on migratory waterbird distributions were spatially limited and temporally restricted to one major life-history phase. However, effects of landscape-scale habitat heterogeneity on long-distance migratory waterbirds can be studied across the annual cycle using new technologies, including global positioning system satellite transmitters. We used Bayesian discrete choice models to examine the influence of local habitats and landscape composition on habitat selection by a generalist dabbling duck, the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), in the midcontinent of North America during the non-breeding period. Using a previously published empirical movement metric, we separated the non-breeding period into three seasons, including autumn migration, winter, and spring migration. We defined spatial scales based on movement patterns such that movements >0.25 and <30.00 km were classified as local scale and movements >30.00 km were classified as relocation scale. Habitat selection at the local scale was generally influenced by local and landscape-level variables across all seasons. Variables in top models at the local scale included proximities to cropland, emergent wetland, open water, and woody wetland. Similarly, variables associated with area of cropland, emergent wetland, open water, and woody wetland were also included at the local scale. At the relocation scale, mallards selected resource units based on more generalized variables, including proximity to wetlands and total wetland area. Our results emphasize the role of landscape composition in waterbird habitat selection and provide further support for local wetland landscapes to be considered functional units of waterbird conservation and management.

Soil moisture estimation by assimilating L-band microwave brightness temperature with geostatistics and observation localization.

PubMed

Han, Xujun; Li, Xin; Rigon, Riccardo; Jin, Rui; Endrizzi, Stefano

2015-01-01

The observation could be used to reduce the model uncertainties with data assimilation. If the observation cannot cover the whole model area due to spatial availability or instrument ability, how to do data assimilation at locations not covered by observation? Two commonly used strategies were firstly described: One is covariance localization (CL); the other is observation localization (OL). Compared with CL, OL is easy to parallelize and more efficient for large-scale analysis. This paper evaluated OL in soil moisture profile characterizations, in which the geostatistical semivariogram was used to fit the spatial correlated characteristics of synthetic L-Band microwave brightness temperature measurement. The fitted semivariogram model and the local ensemble transform Kalman filter algorithm are combined together to weight and assimilate the observations within a local region surrounding the grid cell of land surface model to be analyzed. Six scenarios were compared: 1_Obs with one nearest observation assimilated, 5_Obs with no more than five nearest local observations assimilated, and 9_Obs with no more than nine nearest local observations assimilated. The scenarios with no more than 16, 25, and 36 local observations were also compared. From the results we can conclude that more local observations involved in assimilation will improve estimations with an upper bound of 9 observations in this case. This study demonstrates the potentials of geostatistical correlation representation in OL to improve data assimilation of catchment scale soil moisture using synthetic L-band microwave brightness temperature, which cannot cover the study area fully in space due to vegetation effects.

Soil Moisture Estimation by Assimilating L-Band Microwave Brightness Temperature with Geostatistics and Observation Localization

PubMed Central

Han, Xujun; Li, Xin; Rigon, Riccardo; Jin, Rui; Endrizzi, Stefano

2015-01-01

The observation could be used to reduce the model uncertainties with data assimilation. If the observation cannot cover the whole model area due to spatial availability or instrument ability, how to do data assimilation at locations not covered by observation? Two commonly used strategies were firstly described: One is covariance localization (CL); the other is observation localization (OL). Compared with CL, OL is easy to parallelize and more efficient for large-scale analysis. This paper evaluated OL in soil moisture profile characterizations, in which the geostatistical semivariogram was used to fit the spatial correlated characteristics of synthetic L-Band microwave brightness temperature measurement. The fitted semivariogram model and the local ensemble transform Kalman filter algorithm are combined together to weight and assimilate the observations within a local region surrounding the grid cell of land surface model to be analyzed. Six scenarios were compared: 1_Obs with one nearest observation assimilated, 5_Obs with no more than five nearest local observations assimilated, and 9_Obs with no more than nine nearest local observations assimilated. The scenarios with no more than 16, 25, and 36 local observations were also compared. From the results we can conclude that more local observations involved in assimilation will improve estimations with an upper bound of 9 observations in this case. This study demonstrates the potentials of geostatistical correlation representation in OL to improve data assimilation of catchment scale soil moisture using synthetic L-band microwave brightness temperature, which cannot cover the study area fully in space due to vegetation effects. PMID:25635771

Tracking the sources and sinks of local marine debris in Hawai'i.

PubMed

Carson, Henry S; Lamson, Megan R; Nakashima, Davis; Toloumu, Derek; Hafner, Jan; Maximenko, Nikolai; McDermid, Karla J

2013-03-01

Plastic pollution has biological, chemical, and physical effects on marine environments and economic effects on coastal communities. These effects are acute on southeastern Hawai'i Island, where volunteers remove 16 metric tons of debris annually from a 15 km coastline. Although the majority is foreign-origin, a portion is locally-generated. We used floating debris-retention booms in two urban waterways to measure the input of debris from Hilo, the island's largest community, and released wooden drifters in nearby coastal waters to track the fate of that debris. In 205 days, 30 kilograms of debris (73.6% plastic) were retained from two watersheds comprising 10.2% of Hilo's developed land area. Of 851 wooden drifters released offshore of Hilo in four events, 23.3% were recovered locally, 1.4% at distant locations, and 6.5% on other islands. Comparisons with modeled surface currents and wind were mixed, indicating the importance of nearshore and tidal dynamics not included in the model. This study demonstrated that local pollutants can be retained nearby, contribute to the island's debris-accumulation area, and quickly contaminate other islands. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microsphere-Based Rapamycin Delivery, Systemic Versus Local Administration in a Rat Model of Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury.

PubMed

Zandstra, Jurjen; van Beuge, Marike M; Zuidema, Johan; Petersen, Arjen H; Staal, Mark; Duque, Luisa F; Rodriguez, Sergio; Lathuile, Audrey A R; Veldhuis, Gert J; Steendam, Rob; Bank, Ruud A; Popa, Eliane R

2015-10-01

The increasing prevalence and treatment costs of kidney diseases call for innovative therapeutic strategies that prevent disease progression at an early stage. We studied a novel method of subcapsular injection of monodisperse microspheres, to use as a local delivery system of drugs to the kidney. We generated placebo- and rapamycin monodisperse microspheres to investigate subcapsular delivery of drugs. Using a rat model of acute kidney injury, subcapsular injection of placebo and rapamycin monodisperse microspheres (monospheres) was compared to subcutaneous injection, mimicking systemic administration. We did not find any adverse effects related to the delivery method. Irrespective of the injection site, a similar low dose of rapamycin was present in the circulation. However, only local intrarenal delivery of rapamycin from monospheres led to decreased macrophage infiltration and a significantly lower amount of myofibroblasts in the kidney, where systemic administration did not. Local delivery of rapamycin did cause a transient increase in the deposition of collagen I, but not of collagen III. We conclude that therapeutic effects can be increased when rapamycin is delivered subcapsularly by monospheres, which, combined with low systemic concentrations, may lead to an effective intrarenal delivery method.

The Role of Ocean Currents in the Temperature Selection of Plankton: Insights from an Individual-Based Model

PubMed Central

Hellweger, Ferdi L.; van Sebille, Erik; Calfee, Benjamin C.; Chandler, Jeremy W.; Zinser, Erik R.; Swan, Brandon K.; Fredrick, Neil D.

2016-01-01

Biogeography studies that correlate the observed distribution of organisms to environmental variables are typically based on local conditions. However, in cases with substantial translocation, like planktonic organisms carried by ocean currents, selection may happen upstream and local environmental factors may not be representative of those that shaped the local population. Here we use an individual-based model of microbes in the global surface ocean to explore this effect for temperature. We simulate up to 25 million individual cells belonging to up to 50 species with different temperature optima. Microbes are moved around the globe based on a hydrodynamic model, and grow and die based on local temperature. We quantify the role of currents using the “advective temperature differential” metric, which is the optimum temperature of the most abundant species from the model with advection minus that from the model without advection. This differential depends on the location and can be up to 4°C. Poleward-flowing currents, like the Gulf Stream, generally experience cooling and the differential is positive. We apply our results to three global datasets. For observations of optimum growth temperature of phytoplankton, accounting for the effect of currents leads to a slightly better agreement with observations, but there is large variability and the improvement is not statistically significant. For observed Prochlorococcus ecotype ratios and metagenome nucleotide divergence, accounting for advection improves the correlation significantly, especially in areas with relatively strong poleward or equatorward currents. PMID:27907181

Taylor expansion of luminosity distance in Szekeres cosmological models: effects of local structures evolution on cosmographic parameters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Villani, Mattia, E-mail: villani@fi.infn.it

2014-06-01

We consider the Goode-Wainwright representation of the Szekeres cosmological models and calculate the Taylor expansion of the luminosity distance in order to study the effects of the inhomogeneities on cosmographic parameters. Without making a particular choice for the arbitrary functions defining the metric, we Taylor expand up to the second order in redshift for Family I and up to the third order for Family II Szekeres metrics under the hypotesis, based on observation, that local structure formation is over. In a conservative fashion, we also allow for the existence of a non null cosmological constant.

Mean-field model of the von Kármán sodium dynamo experiment using soft iron impellers.

PubMed

Nore, C; Léorat, J; Guermond, J-L; Giesecke, A

2015-01-01

It has been observed that dynamo action occurs in the von-Kármán-Sodium (VKS) experiment only when the rotating disks and the blades are made of soft iron. The purpose of this paper is to numerically investigate the role of soft iron in the VKS dynamo scenario. This is done by using a mean-field model based on an axisymmetric mean flow, a localized permeability distribution, and a localized α effect modeling the action of the small velocity scales between the blades. The action of the rotating blades is modeled by an axisymmetric effective permeability field. Key properties of the flow giving to the numerical magnetic field a geometric structure similar to that observed experimentally are identified. Depending on the permeability of the disks and the effective permeability of the blades, the dynamo that is obtained is either oscillatory or stationary. Our numerical results confirm the leading role played by the ferromagnetic impellers. A scenario for the VKS dynamo is proposed.

Scleral anisotropy and its effects on the mechanical response of the optic nerve head

PubMed Central

Coudrillier, Baptiste; Boote, Craig; Quigley, Harry A.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a computational modeling study of the effects of the collagen fiber structure on the mechanical response of the sclera and the adjacent optic nerve head (ONH). A specimen-specific inverse finite element method was developed to determine the material properties of two human sclera subjected to full-field inflation experiments. A distributed fiber model was applied to describe the anisotropic elastic behavior of the sclera. The model directly incorporated wide angle x-ray scattering measurements of the anisotropic collagen structure. The converged solution of the inverse method was used in micromechanical studies of the mechanical anisotropy of the sclera at different scales. The effects of the scleral collagen fiber structure on the ONH deformation were evaluated by progressively filtering out local anisotropic features. It was found that the majority of the midposterior sclera could be described as isotropic without significantly affecting the mechanical response of the tissues of the ONH. In contrast, removing local anisotropic features in the peripapillary sclera produced significant changes in scleral canal expansion, and lamina cribrosa deformation. Local variations in the collagen structure of the peripapillary sclera significantly influenced the mechanical response of the ONH. PMID:23188256

Entanglement renormalization and gauge symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagliacozzo, L.; Vidal, G.

2011-03-01

A lattice gauge theory is described by a redundantly large vector space that is subject to local constraints and can be regarded as the low-energy limit of an extended lattice model with a local symmetry. We propose a numerical coarse-graining scheme to produce low-energy, effective descriptions of lattice models with a local symmetry such that the local symmetry is exactly preserved during coarse-graining. Our approach results in a variational ansatz for the ground state(s) and low-energy excitations of such models and, by extension, of lattice gauge theories. This ansatz incorporates the local symmetry in its structure and exploits it to obtain a significant reduction of computational costs. We test the approach in the context of a Z2 lattice gauge theory formulated as the low-energy theory of a specific regime of the toric code with a magnetic field, for lattices with up to 16×16 sites (162×2=512 spins) on a torus. We reproduce the well-known ground-state phase diagram of the model, consisting of a deconfined and spin-polarized phases separated by a continuous quantum phase transition, and obtain accurate estimates of energy gaps, ground-state fidelities, Wilson loops, and several other quantities.

Persistent coexistence of cyclically competing species in spatially extended ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Junpyo; Do, Younghae; Huang, Zi-Gang; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2013-06-01

A fundamental result in the evolutionary-game paradigm of cyclic competition in spatially extended ecological systems, as represented by the classic Reichenbach-Mobilia-Frey (RMF) model, is that high mobility tends to hamper or even exclude species coexistence. This result was obtained under the hypothesis that individuals move randomly without taking into account the suitability of their local environment. We incorporate local habitat suitability into the RMF model and investigate its effect on coexistence. In particular, we hypothesize the use of "basic instinct" of an individual to determine its movement at any time step. That is, an individual is more likely to move when the local habitat becomes hostile and is no longer favorable for survival and growth. We show that, when such local habitat suitability is taken into account, robust coexistence can emerge even in the high-mobility regime where extinction is certain in the RMF model. A surprising finding is that coexistence is accompanied by the occurrence of substantial empty space in the system. Reexamination of the RMF model confirms the necessity and the important role of empty space in coexistence. Our study implies that adaptation/movements according to local habitat suitability are a fundamental factor to promote species coexistence and, consequently, biodiversity.

Many local pattern texture features: which is better for image-based multilabel human protein subcellular localization classification?

PubMed

Yang, Fan; Xu, Ying-Ying; Shen, Hong-Bin

2014-01-01

Human protein subcellular location prediction can provide critical knowledge for understanding a protein's function. Since significant progress has been made on digital microscopy, automated image-based protein subcellular location classification is urgently needed. In this paper, we aim to investigate more representative image features that can be effectively used for dealing with the multilabel subcellular image samples. We prepared a large multilabel immunohistochemistry (IHC) image benchmark from the Human Protein Atlas database and tested the performance of different local texture features, including completed local binary pattern, local tetra pattern, and the standard local binary pattern feature. According to our experimental results from binary relevance multilabel machine learning models, the completed local binary pattern, and local tetra pattern are more discriminative for describing IHC images when compared to the traditional local binary pattern descriptor. The combination of these two novel local pattern features and the conventional global texture features is also studied. The enhanced performance of final binary relevance classification model trained on the combined feature space demonstrates that different features are complementary to each other and thus capable of improving the accuracy of classification.

Stress Distribution During Deformation of Polycrystalline Aluminum by Molecular-Dynamics and Finite-Element Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yamakov, V.; Saether, E.; Phillips, D.; Glaessgen, E. H.

2004-01-01

In this paper, a multiscale modelling strategy is used to study the effect of grain-boundary sliding on stress localization in a polycrystalline microstructure with an uneven distribution of grain size. The development of the molecular dynamics (MD) analysis used to interrogate idealized grain microstructures with various types of grain boundaries and the multiscale modelling strategies for modelling large systems of grains is discussed. Both molecular-dynamics and finite-element (FE) simulations for idealized polycrystalline models of identical geometry are presented with the purpose of demonstrating the effectiveness of the adapted finite-element method using cohesive zone models to reproduce grain-boundary sliding and its effect on the stress distribution in a polycrystalline metal. The yield properties of the grain-boundary interface, used in the FE simulations, are extracted from a MD simulation on a bicrystal. The models allow for the study of the load transfer between adjacent grains of very different size through grain-boundary sliding during deformation. A large-scale FE simulation of 100 grains of a typical microstructure is then presented to reveal that the stress distribution due to grain-boundary sliding during uniform tensile strain can lead to stress localization of two to three times the background stress, thus suggesting a significant effect on the failure properties of the metal.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Versus 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy for Preoperative Treatment of Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcomas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Richard, Patrick, E-mail: patrjr@uw.edu; Phillips, Mark; Smith, Wade

Purpose: Create a cost-effectiveness model comparing preoperative intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) versus 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) for extremity soft tissue sarcomas. Methods and Materials: Input parameters included 5-year local recurrence rates, rates of acute wound adverse events, and chronic toxicities (edema, fracture, joint stiffness, and fibrosis). Health-state utilities were used to calculate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Overall treatment costs per QALY or incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were calculated. Roll-back analysis was performed using average costs and utilities to determine the baseline preferred radiation technique. One-way, 2-way, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA) were performed for input parameters with themore » largest impact on the ICER. Results: Overall treatment costs were $17,515.58 for 3DCRT compared with $22,920.51 for IMRT. The effectiveness was higher for IMRT (3.68 QALYs) than for 3DCRT (3.35 QALYs). The baseline ICER for IMRT was $16,842.75/QALY, making it the preferable treatment. The ICER was most sensitive to the probability of local recurrence, upfront radiation costs, local recurrence costs, certain utilities (no toxicity/no recurrence, grade 1 toxicity/no local recurrence, grade 4 toxicity/no local recurrence), and life expectancy. Dominance patterns emerged when the cost of 3DCRT exceeded $15,532.05 (IMRT dominates) or the life expectancy was under 1.68 years (3DCRT dominates). Furthermore, preference patterns changed based on the rate of local recurrence (threshold: 13%). The PSA results demonstrated that IMRT was the preferred cost-effective technique for 64% of trials compared with 36% for 3DCRT. Conclusions: Based on our model, IMRT is the preferred technique by lowering rates of local recurrence, severe toxicities, and improving QALYs. From a third-party payer perspective, IMRT should be a supported approach for extremity soft tissue sarcomas.« less

Effect of altering local protein fluctuations using artificial intelligence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishiyama, Katsuhiko

2017-03-01

The fluctuations in Arg111, a significantly fluctuating residue in cathepsin K, were locally regulated by modifying Arg111 to Gly111. The binding properties of 15 dipeptides in the modified protein were analyzed by molecular simulations, and modeled as decision trees using artificial intelligence. The decision tree of the modified protein significantly differed from that of unmodified cathepsin K, and the Arg-to-Gly modification exerted a remarkable effect on the peptide binding properties. By locally regulating the fluctuations of a protein, we may greatly alter the original functions of the protein, enabling novel applications in several fields.

Adaptive non-local smoothing-based weberface for illumination-insensitive face recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Min; Zhu, Changming

2017-07-01

Compensating the illumination of a face image is an important process to achieve effective face recognition under severe illumination conditions. This paper present a novel illumination normalization method which specifically considers removing the illumination boundaries as well as reducing the regional illumination. We begin with the analysis of the commonly used reflectance model and then expatiate the hybrid usage of adaptive non-local smoothing and the local information coding based on Weber's law. The effectiveness and advantages of this combination are evidenced visually and experimentally. Results on Extended YaleB database show its better performance than several other famous methods.

Lapse of time effects on tax evasion in an agent-based econophysics model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seibold, Götz; Pickhardt, Michael

2013-05-01

We investigate an inhomogeneous Ising model in the context of tax evasion dynamics where different types of agents are parameterized via local temperatures and magnetic fields. In particular, we analyze the impact of lapse of time effects (i.e. backauditing) and endogenously determined penalty rates on tax compliance. Both features contribute to a microfoundation of agent-based econophysics models of tax evasion.

Quantum detectors of vector potential and their modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulian, Armen; Melkonyan, Gurgen; Gulian, Ellen

Proportionality of current to vector potential is a feature not allowed in classical physics, but is one of the pillars in quantum theory. For superconductors, in particular, it allows us to describe the Meissner effect. Since the phase of the quantum wave function couples with the vector-potential, the related expressions are gauge-invariant. Is it possible to measure this gauge-invariant quantity locally? The answer is definitely ``yes'', as soon as the current is involved. Indeed, the electric current generates a magnetic field which can be measured straightforwardly. However, one can consider situations like the Aharonov-Bohm effect where the classical magnetic field is locally absent in the area occupied by the quantum object (i.e., superconductor in our case). Despite the local absence of the magnetic field, current is, nevertheless, building up. From what source is it acquiring its energy? Locally, only a vector potential is present. Is the current formation a result of a truly non-local quantum action, or does the local action of the vector potential have experimental consequences on the quantum system, which then can be considered as a detector of the vector potential? We discuss possible experimental schemes on the level of COMSOL modeling. This research is supported in part by the ONR Grant N000141612269.

A comparison of non-local electron transport models relevant to inertial confinement fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sherlock, Mark; Brodrick, Jonathan; Ridgers, Christopher

2017-10-01

We compare the reduced non-local electron transport model developed by Schurtz et al. to Vlasov-Fokker-Planck simulations. Two new test cases are considered: the propagation of a heat wave through a high density region into a lower density gas, and a 1-dimensional hohlraum ablation problem. We find the reduced model reproduces the peak heat flux well in the ablation region but significantly over-predicts the coronal preheat. The suitability of the reduced model for computing non-local transport effects other than thermal conductivity is considered by comparing the computed distribution function to the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck distribution function. It is shown that even when the reduced model reproduces the correct heat flux, the distribution function is significantly different to the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck prediction. Two simple modifications are considered which improve agreement between models in the coronal region. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

DIETARY VITAMIN A ENHANCES SENSITIVITY OF THE LOCAL LYMPH NODE ASSAY

EPA Science Inventory

Murine assays such as the mouse ear swelling test (MEST) and the local lymph node assay (LLNA) are popular alternatives to guinea pig models for the identification of contact sensitizers, yet there has been concern over the effectiveness of these assays to detect weak and moderat...

The Army’s Local Economic Effects

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

region. An I/O model is a representation of the linkages between major sectors of a regional economy in which each sector of the regional economy is...assumed to require inputs from the other sectors to produce output. These inputs can come from local sources within the region, from other domestic...ment of the Army in a congressional district. An I/O model is a representation of the linkages between major sectors of a regional economy (and, to a

Developing a model for effects of climate change on human health and health-environment interactions: Heat stress in Austin, Texas

EPA Science Inventory

Background/Question/Methods In December, 2010, a consortium of EPA, Centers for Disease Control, and state and local health officials convened in Austin, Texas for a “participatory modeling workshop” on climate change effects on human health and health-environment interactions. ...

Developing a model for effects of climate change on human health and health-environment interactions: Heat stress in Austin, Texas presentation

EPA Science Inventory

Background/Question/Methods In December, 2010, a consortium of EPA, Centers for Disease Control, and state and local health officials convened in Austin, Texas for a “participatory modeling workshop” on climate change effects on human health and health-environment int...

Explosive magnetic reconnection caused by an X-shaped current-vortex layer in a collisionless plasma

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirota, M.; Hattori, Y.; Morrison, P. J.

2015-05-15

A mechanism for explosive magnetic reconnection is investigated by analyzing the nonlinear evolution of a collisionless tearing mode in a two-fluid model that includes the effects of electron inertia and temperature. These effects cooperatively enable a fast reconnection by forming an X-shaped current-vortex layer centered at the reconnection point. A high-resolution simulation of this model for an unprecedentedly small electron skin depth d{sub e} and ion-sound gyroradius ρ{sub s}, satisfying d{sub e}=ρ{sub s}, shows an explosive tendency for nonlinear growth of the tearing mode, where it is newly found that the explosive widening of the X-shaped layer occurs locally aroundmore » the reconnection point with the length of the X shape being shorter than the domain length and the wavelength of the linear tearing mode. The reason for the onset of this locally enhanced reconnection is explained theoretically by developing a novel nonlinear and nonequilibrium inner solution that models the local X-shaped layer, and then matching it to an outer solution that is approximated by a linear tearing eigenmode with a shorter wavelength than the domain length. This theoretical model proves that the local reconnection can release the magnetic energy more efficiently than the global one and the estimated scaling of the explosive growth rate agrees well with the simulation results.« less

Aerosol Impacts on California Winter Clouds and Precipitation during CalWater 2011: Local Pollution versus Long-Range Transported Dust

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fan, Jiwen; Leung, Lai-Yung R.; DeMott, Paul J.

2014-01-03

Mineral dust aerosols often observed over California in winter and spring, associated with long-range transport from Asia and Sahara, have been linked to enhanced precipitation based on observations. Local anthropogenic pollution, on the other hand, was shown in previous observational and modeling studies to reduce precipitation. Here we incorporate recent developments in ice nucleation parameterizations to link aerosols with ice crystal formation in a spectral-bin cloud microphysical model coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, to examine the relative and combined impacts of dust and local pollution particles on cloud properties and precipitation type and intensity. Simulations aremore » carried out for two cloud cases with contrasting meteorology and cloud dynamics that occurred on February 16 (FEB16) and March 02 (MAR02) from the CalWater 2011 field campaign. In both cases, observations show the presence of dust and biological particles in a relative pristine environment. The simulated cloud microphysical properties and precipitation show reasonable agreement with aircraft and surface measurements. Model sensitivity experiments indicate that in the pristine environment, the dust and biological aerosol layers increase the accumulated precipitation by 10-20% from the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada Mountains for both FEB16 and MAR02 due to a ~40% increase in snow formation, validating the observational hypothesis. Model results show that local pollution increases precipitation over the windward slope of the mountains by few percent due to increased snow formation when dust is present but reduces precipitation by 5-8% if dust is removed on FEB16. The effects of local pollution on cloud microphysics and precipitation strongly depend on meteorology including the strength of the Sierra Barrier Jet, and cloud dynamics. This study further underscores the importance of the interactions between local pollution, dust, and environmental conditions for assessing aerosol effects on cold season precipitation in California.« less

Mathematical modeling of polymer flooding using the unstructured Voronoi grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kireev, T. F.; Bulgakova, G. T.; Khatmullin, I. F.

2017-12-01

Effective recovery of unconventional oil reserves necessitates development of enhanced oil recovery techniques such as polymer flooding. The study investigated the model of polymer flooding with effects of adsorption and water salinity. The model takes into account six components that include elements of the classic black oil model. These components are polymer, salt, water, dead oil, dry gas and dissolved gas. Solution of the problem is obtained by finite volume method on unstructured Voronoi grid using fully implicit scheme and the Newton’s method. To compare several different grid configurations numerical simulation of polymer flooding is performed. The oil rates obtained by a hexagonal locally refined Voronoi grid are shown to be more accurate than the oil rates obtained by a rectangular grid with the same number of cells. The latter effect is caused by high solution accuracy near the wells due to the local grid refinement. Minimization of the grid orientation effect caused by the hexagonal pattern is also demonstrated. However, in the inter-well regions with large Voronoi cells flood front tends to flatten and the water breakthrough moment is smoothed.

Nitrogen dioxide concentrations in neighborhoods adjacent to a commercial airport: a land use regression modeling study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background There is growing concern in communities surrounding airports regarding the contribution of various emission sources (such as aircraft and ground support equipment) to nearby ambient concentrations. We used extensive monitoring of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in neighborhoods surrounding T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, RI, and land-use regression (LUR) modeling techniques to determine the impact of proximity to the airport and local traffic on these concentrations. Methods Palmes diffusion tube samplers were deployed along the airport's fence line and within surrounding neighborhoods for one to two weeks. In total, 644 measurements were collected over three sampling campaigns (October 2007, March 2008 and June 2008) and each sampling location was geocoded. GIS-based variables were created as proxies for local traffic and airport activity. A forward stepwise regression methodology was employed to create general linear models (GLMs) of NO2 variability near the airport. The effect of local meteorology on associations with GIS-based variables was also explored. Results Higher concentrations of NO2 were seen near the airport terminal, entrance roads to the terminal, and near major roads, with qualitatively consistent spatial patterns between seasons. In our final multivariate model (R2 = 0.32), the local influences of highways and arterial/collector roads were statistically significant, as were local traffic density and distance to the airport terminal (all p < 0.001). Local meteorology did not significantly affect associations with principal GIS variables, and the regression model structure was robust to various model-building approaches. Conclusion Our study has shown that there are clear local variations in NO2 in the neighborhoods that surround an urban airport, which are spatially consistent across seasons. LUR modeling demonstrated a strong influence of local traffic, except the smallest roads that predominate in residential areas, as well as proximity to the airport terminal. PMID:21083910

Nitrogen dioxide concentrations in neighborhoods adjacent to a commercial airport: a land use regression modeling study.

PubMed

Adamkiewicz, Gary; Hsu, Hsiao-Hsien; Vallarino, Jose; Melly, Steven J; Spengler, John D; Levy, Jonathan I

2010-11-17

There is growing concern in communities surrounding airports regarding the contribution of various emission sources (such as aircraft and ground support equipment) to nearby ambient concentrations. We used extensive monitoring of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in neighborhoods surrounding T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, RI, and land-use regression (LUR) modeling techniques to determine the impact of proximity to the airport and local traffic on these concentrations. Palmes diffusion tube samplers were deployed along the airport's fence line and within surrounding neighborhoods for one to two weeks. In total, 644 measurements were collected over three sampling campaigns (October 2007, March 2008 and June 2008) and each sampling location was geocoded. GIS-based variables were created as proxies for local traffic and airport activity. A forward stepwise regression methodology was employed to create general linear models (GLMs) of NO2 variability near the airport. The effect of local meteorology on associations with GIS-based variables was also explored. Higher concentrations of NO2 were seen near the airport terminal, entrance roads to the terminal, and near major roads, with qualitatively consistent spatial patterns between seasons. In our final multivariate model (R2 = 0.32), the local influences of highways and arterial/collector roads were statistically significant, as were local traffic density and distance to the airport terminal (all p < 0.001). Local meteorology did not significantly affect associations with principal GIS variables, and the regression model structure was robust to various model-building approaches. Our study has shown that there are clear local variations in NO2 in the neighborhoods that surround an urban airport, which are spatially consistent across seasons. LUR modeling demonstrated a strong influence of local traffic, except the smallest roads that predominate in residential areas, as well as proximity to the airport terminal.

Cerebellum as a forward but not inverse model in visuomotor adaptation task: a tDCS-based and modeling study.

PubMed

Yavari, Fatemeh; Mahdavi, Shirin; Towhidkhah, Farzad; Ahmadi-Pajouh, Mohammad-Ali; Ekhtiari, Hamed; Darainy, Mohammad

2016-04-01

Despite several pieces of evidence, which suggest that the human brain employs internal models for motor control and learning, the location of these models in the brain is not yet clear. In this study, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate right cerebellar function, while subjects adapt to a visuomotor task. We investigated the effect of this manipulation on the internal forward and inverse models by measuring two kinds of behavior: generalization of training in one direction to neighboring directions (as a proxy for inverse models) and localization of the hand position after movement without visual feedback (as a proxy for forward model). The experimental results showed no effect of cerebellar tDCS on generalization, but significant effect on localization. These observations support the idea that the cerebellum is a possible brain region for internal forward, but not inverse model formation. We also used a realistic human head model to calculate current density distribution in the brain. The result of this model confirmed the passage of current through the cerebellum. Moreover, to further explain some observed experimental results, we modeled the visuomotor adaptation process with the help of a biologically inspired method known as population coding. The effect of tDCS was also incorporated in the model. The results of this modeling study closely match our experimental data and provide further evidence in line with the idea that tDCS manipulates FM's function in the cerebellum.

Revival of the Deser-Woodard nonlocal gravity model: Comparison of the original nonlocal form and a localized formulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Sohyun

2018-02-01

We examine the origin of two opposite results for the growth of perturbations in the Deser-Woodard (DW) nonlocal gravity model. One group previously analyzed the model in its original nonlocal form and showed that the growth of structure in the DW model is enhanced compared to general relativity (GR) and thus concluded that the model was ruled out. Recently, however, another group has reanalyzed it by localizing the model and found that the growth in their localized version is suppressed even compared to the one in GR. The question was whether the discrepancy originates from an intrinsic difference between the nonlocal and localized formulations or is due to their different implementations of the subhorizon limit. We show that the nonlocal and local formulations give the same solutions for the linear perturbations as long as the initial conditions are set the same. The different implementations of the subhorizon limit lead to different transient behaviors of some perturbation variables; however, they do not affect the growth of matter perturbations at the sub-horizon scale much. In the meantime, we also report an error in the numerical calculation code of the former group and verify that after fixing the error the nonlocal version also gives the suppressed growth. Finally, we discuss two alternative definitions of the effective gravitational constant taken by the two groups and some open problems.

Customization of UWB 3D-RTLS Based on the New Uncertainty Model of the AoA Ranging Technique

PubMed Central

Jachimczyk, Bartosz; Dziak, Damian; Kulesza, Wlodek J.

2017-01-01

The increased potential and effectiveness of Real-time Locating Systems (RTLSs) substantially influence their application spectrum. They are widely used, inter alia, in the industrial sector, healthcare, home care, and in logistic and security applications. The research aims to develop an analytical method to customize UWB-based RTLS, in order to improve their localization performance in terms of accuracy and precision. The analytical uncertainty model of Angle of Arrival (AoA) localization in a 3D indoor space, which is the foundation of the customization concept, is established in a working environment. Additionally, a suitable angular-based 3D localization algorithm is introduced. The paper investigates the following issues: the influence of the proposed correction vector on the localization accuracy; the impact of the system’s configuration and LS’s relative deployment on the localization precision distribution map. The advantages of the method are verified by comparing them with a reference commercial RTLS localization engine. The results of simulations and physical experiments prove the value of the proposed customization method. The research confirms that the analytical uncertainty model is the valid representation of RTLS’ localization uncertainty in terms of accuracy and precision and can be useful for its performance improvement. The research shows, that the Angle of Arrival localization in a 3D indoor space applying the simple angular-based localization algorithm and correction vector improves of localization accuracy and precision in a way that the system challenges the reference hardware advanced localization engine. Moreover, the research guides the deployment of location sensors to enhance the localization precision. PMID:28125056

Customization of UWB 3D-RTLS Based on the New Uncertainty Model of the AoA Ranging Technique.

PubMed

Jachimczyk, Bartosz; Dziak, Damian; Kulesza, Wlodek J

2017-01-25

The increased potential and effectiveness of Real-time Locating Systems (RTLSs) substantially influence their application spectrum. They are widely used, inter alia, in the industrial sector, healthcare, home care, and in logistic and security applications. The research aims to develop an analytical method to customize UWB-based RTLS, in order to improve their localization performance in terms of accuracy and precision. The analytical uncertainty model of Angle of Arrival (AoA) localization in a 3D indoor space, which is the foundation of the customization concept, is established in a working environment. Additionally, a suitable angular-based 3D localization algorithm is introduced. The paper investigates the following issues: the influence of the proposed correction vector on the localization accuracy; the impact of the system's configuration and LS's relative deployment on the localization precision distribution map. The advantages of the method are verified by comparing them with a reference commercial RTLS localization engine. The results of simulations and physical experiments prove the value of the proposed customization method. The research confirms that the analytical uncertainty model is the valid representation of RTLS' localization uncertainty in terms of accuracy and precision and can be useful for its performance improvement. The research shows, that the Angle of Arrival localization in a 3D indoor space applying the simple angular-based localization algorithm and correction vector improves of localization accuracy and precision in a way that the system challenges the reference hardware advanced localization engine. Moreover, the research guides the deployment of location sensors to enhance the localization precision.

The Effects of Climate Model Similarity on Local, Risk-Based Adaptation Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinschneider, S.; Brown, C. M.

2014-12-01

The climate science community has recently proposed techniques to develop probabilistic projections of climate change from ensemble climate model output. These methods provide a means to incorporate the formal concept of risk, i.e., the product of impact and probability, into long-term planning assessments for local systems under climate change. However, approaches for pdf development often assume that different climate models provide independent information for the estimation of probabilities, despite model similarities that stem from a common genealogy. Here we utilize an ensemble of projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) to develop probabilistic climate information, with and without an accounting of inter-model correlations, and use it to estimate climate-related risks to a local water utility in Colorado, U.S. We show that the tail risk of extreme climate changes in both mean precipitation and temperature is underestimated if model correlations are ignored. When coupled with impact models of the hydrology and infrastructure of the water utility, the underestimation of extreme climate changes substantially alters the quantification of risk for water supply shortages by mid-century. We argue that progress in climate change adaptation for local systems requires the recognition that there is less information in multi-model climate ensembles than previously thought. Importantly, adaptation decisions cannot be limited to the spread in one generation of climate models.

Prediction of the Seizure Suppression Effect by Electrical Stimulation via a Computational Modeling Approach.

PubMed

Ahn, Sora; Jo, Sumin; Jun, Sang Beom; Lee, Hyang Woon; Lee, Seungjun

2017-01-01

In this paper, we identified factors that can affect seizure suppression via electrical stimulation by an integrative study based on experimental and computational approach. Preferentially, we analyzed the characteristics of seizure-like events (SLEs) using our previous in vitro experimental data. The results were analyzed in two groups classified according to the size of the effective region, in which the SLE was able to be completely suppressed by local stimulation. However, no significant differences were found between these two groups in terms of signal features or propagation characteristics (i.e., propagation delays, frequency spectrum, and phase synchrony). Thus, we further investigated important factors using a computational model that was capable of evaluating specific influences on effective region size. In the proposed model, signal transmission between neurons was based on two different mechanisms: synaptic transmission and the electrical field effect. We were able to induce SLEs having similar characteristics with differentially weighted adjustments for the two transmission methods in various noise environments. Although the SLEs had similar characteristics, their suppression effects differed. First of all, the suppression effect occurred only locally where directly received the stimulation effect in the high noise environment, but it occurred in the entire network in the low noise environment. Interestingly, in the same noise environment, the suppression effect was different depending on SLE propagation mechanism; only a local suppression effect was observed when the influence of the electrical field transmission was very weak, whereas a global effect was observed with a stronger electrical field effect. These results indicate that neuronal activities synchronized by a strong electrical field effect respond more sensitively to partial changes in the entire network. In addition, the proposed model was able to predict that stimulation of a seizure focus region is more effective for suppression. In conclusion, we confirmed the possibility of a computational model as a simulation tool to analyze the efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and investigated the key factors that determine the size of an effective region in seizure suppression via electrical stimulation.

The role of envelope shape in the localization of multiple sound sources and echoes in the barn owl.

PubMed

Baxter, Caitlin S; Nelson, Brian S; Takahashi, Terry T

2013-02-01

Echoes and sounds of independent origin often obscure sounds of interest, but echoes can go undetected under natural listening conditions, a perception called the precedence effect. How does the auditory system distinguish between echoes and independent sources? To investigate, we presented two broadband noises to barn owls (Tyto alba) while varying the similarity of the sounds' envelopes. The carriers of the noises were identical except for a 2- or 3-ms delay. Their onsets and offsets were also synchronized. In owls, sound localization is guided by neural activity on a topographic map of auditory space. When there are two sources concomitantly emitting sounds with overlapping amplitude spectra, space map neurons discharge when the stimulus in their receptive field is louder than the one outside it and when the averaged amplitudes of both sounds are rising. A model incorporating these features calculated the strengths of the two sources' representations on the map (B. S. Nelson and T. T. Takahashi; Neuron 67: 643-655, 2010). The target localized by the owls could be predicted from the model's output. The model also explained why the echo is not localized at short delays: when envelopes are similar, peaks in the leading sound mask corresponding peaks in the echo, weakening the echo's space map representation. When the envelopes are dissimilar, there are few or no corresponding peaks, and the owl localizes whichever source is predicted by the model to be less masked. Thus the precedence effect in the owl is a by-product of a mechanism for representing multiple sound sources on its map.

Pattern or process? Evaluating the peninsula effect as a determinant of species richness in coastal dune forests

PubMed Central

Olivier, Pieter I.; van Aarde, Rudi J.

2017-01-01

The peninsula effect predicts that the number of species should decline from the base of a peninsula to the tip. However, evidence for the peninsula effect is ambiguous, as different analytical methods, study taxa, and variations in local habitat or regional climatic conditions influence conclusions on its presence. We address this uncertainty by using two analytical methods to investigate the peninsula effect in three taxa that occupy different trophic levels: trees, millipedes, and birds. We surveyed 81 tree quadrants, 102 millipede transects, and 152 bird points within 150 km of coastal dune forest that resemble a habitat peninsula along the northeast coast of South Africa. We then used spatial (trend surface analyses) and non-spatial regressions (generalized linear mixed models) to test for the presence of the peninsula effect in each of the three taxa. We also used linear mixed models to test if climate (temperature and precipitation) and/or local habitat conditions (water availability associated with topography and landscape structural variables) could explain gradients in species richness. Non-spatial models suggest that the peninsula effect was present in all three taxa. However, spatial models indicated that only bird species richness declined from the peninsula base to the peninsula tip. Millipede species richness increased near the centre of the peninsula, while tree species richness increased near the tip. Local habitat conditions explained species richness patterns of birds and trees, but not of millipedes, regardless of model type. Our study highlights the idiosyncrasies associated with the peninsula effect—conclusions on the presence of the peninsula effect depend on the analytical methods used and the taxon studied. The peninsula effect might therefore be better suited to describe a species richness pattern where the number of species decline from a broader habitat base to a narrow tip, rather than a process that drives species richness. PMID:28376096

Effect of electron Monte Carlo collisions on a hybrid simulation of a low-pressure capacitively coupled plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hwang, Seok Won; Lee, Ho-Jun; Lee, Hae June

2014-12-01

Fluid models have been widely used and conducted successfully in high pressure plasma simulations where the drift-diffusion and the local-field approximation are valid. However, fluid models are not able to demonstrate non-local effects related to large electron energy relaxation mean free path in low pressure plasmas. To overcome this weakness, a hybrid model coupling electron Monte Carlo collision (EMCC) method with the fluid model is introduced to obtain precise electron energy distribution functions using pseudo-particles. Steady state simulation results by a one-dimensional hybrid model which includes EMCC method for the collisional reactions but uses drift-diffusion approximation for electron transport in a fluid model are compared with those of a conventional particle-in-cell (PIC) and a fluid model for low pressure capacitively coupled plasmas. At a wide range of pressure, the hybrid model agrees well with the PIC simulation with a reduced calculation time while the fluid model shows discrepancy in the results of the plasma density and the electron temperature.

Hedgehog Pathway Inhibition Radiosensitizes Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers

PubMed Central

Zeng, Jing; Aziz, Khaled; Chettiar, Sivarajan T.; Aftab, Blake T.; Armour, Michael; Gajula, Rajendra; Gandhi, Nishant; Salih, Tarek; Herman, Joseph M.; Wong, John; Rudin, Charles M.; Tran, Phuoc T.; Hales, Russell K.

2012-01-01

Purpose Despite improvements in chemoradiation, local control remains a major clinical problem in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The Hedgehog pathway has been implicated in tumor recurrence by promoting survival of tumorigenic precursors and through effects on tumor-associated stroma. Whether Hedgehog inhibition can affect radiation efficacy in vivo has not been reported. Methods and Materials We evaluated the effects of a targeted Hedgehog inhibitor (HhAntag) and radiation on clonogenic survival of human non-small cell lung cancer lines in vitro. Using an A549 cell line xenograft model, we examined tumor growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and gene expression changes after concomitant HhAntag and radiation. In a transgenic mouse model of KrasG12D-induced and Twist1-induced lung adenocarcinoma, we assessed tumor response to radiation and HhAntag by serial micro-computed tomography (CT) scanning. Results In 4 human lung cancer lines in vitro, HhAntag showed little or no effect on radio-sensitivity. By contrast, in both the human tumor xenograft and murine inducible transgenic models, HhAntag enhanced radiation efficacy and delayed tumor growth. By use of the human xenograft model to differentiate tumor and stromal effects, mouse stromal cells, but not human tumor cells, showed significant and consistent downregulation of Hedgehog pathway gene expression. This was associated with increased tumor cell apoptosis. Conclusions Targeted Hedgehog pathway inhibition can increase in vivo radiation efficacy in lung cancer preclinical models. This effect is associated with pathway suppression in tumor-associated stroma. These data support clinical testing of Hedgehog inhibitors as a component of multimodality therapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. PMID:23182391

Hedgehog pathway inhibition radiosensitizes non-small cell lung cancers.

PubMed

Zeng, Jing; Aziz, Khaled; Chettiar, Sivarajan T; Aftab, Blake T; Armour, Michael; Gajula, Rajendra; Gandhi, Nishant; Salih, Tarek; Herman, Joseph M; Wong, John; Rudin, Charles M; Tran, Phuoc T; Hales, Russell K

2013-05-01

Despite improvements in chemoradiation, local control remains a major clinical problem in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The Hedgehog pathway has been implicated in tumor recurrence by promoting survival of tumorigenic precursors and through effects on tumor-associated stroma. Whether Hedgehog inhibition can affect radiation efficacy in vivo has not been reported. We evaluated the effects of a targeted Hedgehog inhibitor (HhAntag) and radiation on clonogenic survival of human non-small cell lung cancer lines in vitro. Using an A549 cell line xenograft model, we examined tumor growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and gene expression changes after concomitant HhAntag and radiation. In a transgenic mouse model of Kras(G12D)-induced and Twist1-induced lung adenocarcinoma, we assessed tumor response to radiation and HhAntag by serial micro-computed tomography (CT) scanning. In 4 human lung cancer lines in vitro, HhAntag showed little or no effect on radiosensitivity. By contrast, in both the human tumor xenograft and murine inducible transgenic models, HhAntag enhanced radiation efficacy and delayed tumor growth. By use of the human xenograft model to differentiate tumor and stromal effects, mouse stromal cells, but not human tumor cells, showed significant and consistent downregulation of Hedgehog pathway gene expression. This was associated with increased tumor cell apoptosis. Targeted Hedgehog pathway inhibition can increase in vivo radiation efficacy in lung cancer preclinical models. This effect is associated with pathway suppression in tumor-associated stroma. These data support clinical testing of Hedgehog inhibitors as a component of multimodality therapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hedgehog Pathway Inhibition Radiosensitizes Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zeng, Jing; Aziz, Khaled; Chettiar, Sivarajan T.

2013-05-01

Purpose: Despite improvements in chemoradiation, local control remains a major clinical problem in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The Hedgehog pathway has been implicated in tumor recurrence by promoting survival of tumorigenic precursors and through effects on tumor-associated stroma. Whether Hedgehog inhibition can affect radiation efficacy in vivo has not been reported. Methods and Materials: We evaluated the effects of a targeted Hedgehog inhibitor (HhAntag) and radiation on clonogenic survival of human non-small cell lung cancer lines in vitro. Using an A549 cell line xenograft model, we examined tumor growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and gene expression changes after concomitant HhAntagmore » and radiation. In a transgenic mouse model of Kras{sup G12D}-induced and Twist1-induced lung adenocarcinoma, we assessed tumor response to radiation and HhAntag by serial micro-computed tomography (CT) scanning. Results: In 4 human lung cancer lines in vitro, HhAntag showed little or no effect on radiosensitivity. By contrast, in both the human tumor xenograft and murine inducible transgenic models, HhAntag enhanced radiation efficacy and delayed tumor growth. By use of the human xenograft model to differentiate tumor and stromal effects, mouse stromal cells, but not human tumor cells, showed significant and consistent downregulation of Hedgehog pathway gene expression. This was associated with increased tumor cell apoptosis. Conclusions: Targeted Hedgehog pathway inhibition can increase in vivo radiation efficacy in lung cancer preclinical models. This effect is associated with pathway suppression in tumor-associated stroma. These data support clinical testing of Hedgehog inhibitors as a component of multimodality therapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.« less

A neural network model of ventriloquism effect and aftereffect.

PubMed

Magosso, Elisa; Cuppini, Cristiano; Ursino, Mauro

2012-01-01

Presenting simultaneous but spatially discrepant visual and auditory stimuli induces a perceptual translocation of the sound towards the visual input, the ventriloquism effect. General explanation is that vision tends to dominate over audition because of its higher spatial reliability. The underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. We address this question via a biologically inspired neural network. The model contains two layers of unimodal visual and auditory neurons, with visual neurons having higher spatial resolution than auditory ones. Neurons within each layer communicate via lateral intra-layer synapses; neurons across layers are connected via inter-layer connections. The network accounts for the ventriloquism effect, ascribing it to a positive feedback between the visual and auditory neurons, triggered by residual auditory activity at the position of the visual stimulus. Main results are: i) the less localized stimulus is strongly biased toward the most localized stimulus and not vice versa; ii) amount of the ventriloquism effect changes with visual-auditory spatial disparity; iii) ventriloquism is a robust behavior of the network with respect to parameter value changes. Moreover, the model implements Hebbian rules for potentiation and depression of lateral synapses, to explain ventriloquism aftereffect (that is, the enduring sound shift after exposure to spatially disparate audio-visual stimuli). By adaptively changing the weights of lateral synapses during cross-modal stimulation, the model produces post-adaptive shifts of auditory localization that agree with in-vivo observations. The model demonstrates that two unimodal layers reciprocally interconnected may explain ventriloquism effect and aftereffect, even without the presence of any convergent multimodal area. The proposed study may provide advancement in understanding neural architecture and mechanisms at the basis of visual-auditory integration in the spatial realm.

Using Participatory System Dynamics Modeling to Examine the Local HIV Test and Treatment Care Continuum in Order to Reduce Community Viral Load.

PubMed

Weeks, Margaret R; Li, Jianghong; Lounsbury, David; Green, Helena Danielle; Abbott, Maryann; Berman, Marcie; Rohena, Lucy; Gonzalez, Rosely; Lang, Shawn; Mosher, Heather

2017-12-01

Achieving community-level goals to eliminate the HIV epidemic requires coordinated efforts through community consortia with a common purpose to examine and critique their own HIV testing and treatment (T&T) care system and build effective tools to guide their efforts to improve it. Participatory system dynamics (SD) modeling offers conceptual, methodological, and analytical tools to engage diverse stakeholders in systems conceptualization and visual mapping of dynamics that undermine community-level health outcomes and identify those that can be leveraged for systems improvement. We recruited and engaged a 25-member multi-stakeholder Task Force, whose members provide or utilize HIV-related services, to participate in SD modeling to examine and address problems of their local HIV T&T service system. Findings from the iterative model building sessions indicated Task Force members' increasingly complex understanding of the local HIV care system and demonstrated their improved capacity to visualize and critique multiple models of the HIV T&T service system and identify areas of potential leverage. Findings also showed members' enhanced communication and consensus in seeking deeper systems understanding and options for solutions. We discuss implications of using these visual SD models for subsequent simulation modeling of the T&T system and for other community applications to improve system effectiveness. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Calculation of Local Stress and Fatigue Resistance due to Thermal Stratification on Pressurized Surge Line Pipe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandriyana, B.; Utaja

2010-06-01

Thermal stratification introduces thermal shock effect which results in local stress and fatique problems that must be considered in the design of nuclear power plant components. Local stress and fatique calculation were performed on the Pressurize Surge Line piping system of the Pressurize Water Reactor of the Nuclear Power Plant. Analysis was done on the operating temperature between 177 to 343° C and the operating pressure of 16 MPa (160 Bar). The stagnant and transient condition with two kinds of stratification model has been evaluated by the two dimensional finite elements method using the ANSYS program. Evaluation of fatigue resistance is developed based on the maximum local stress using the ASME standard Code formula. Maximum stress of 427 MPa occurred at the upper side of the top half of hot fluid pipe stratification model in the transient case condition. The evaluation of the fatigue resistance is performed on 500 operating cycles in the life time of 40 years and giving the usage value of 0,64 which met to the design requirement for class 1 of nuclear component. The out surge transient were the most significant case in the localized effects due to thermal stratification.

Toward a more complete understanding of noncovalent interactions involving aromatic rings.

PubMed

Wheeler, Steven E; Bloom, Jacob W G

2014-08-14

Noncovalent interactions involving aromatic rings, which include π-stacking interactions, anion-π interactions, and XH-π interactions, among others, are ubiquitous in chemical and biochemical systems. Despite dramatic advances in our understanding of these interactions over the past decade, many aspects of these noncovalent interactions have only recently been uncovered, with many questions remaining. We summarize our computational studies aimed at understanding the impact of substituents and heteroatoms on these noncovalent interactions. In particular, we discuss our local, direct interaction model of substituent effects in π-stacking interactions. In this model, substituent effects are dominated by electrostatic interactions of the local dipoles associated with the substituents and the electric field of the other ring. The implications of the local nature of substituent effects on π-stacking interactions in larger systems are discussed, with examples given for complexes with carbon nanotubes and a small graphene model, as well as model stacked discotic systems. We also discuss related issues involving the interpretation of electrostatic potential (ESP) maps. Although ESP maps are widely used in discussions of noncovalent interactions, they are often misinterpreted. Next, we provide an alternative explanation for the origin of anion-π interactions involving substituted benzenes and N-heterocycles, and show that these interactions are well-described by simple models based solely on charge-dipole interactions. Finally, we summarize our recent work on the physical nature of substituent effects in XH-π interactions. Together, these results paint a more complete picture of noncovalent interactions involving aromatic rings and provide a firm conceptual foundation for the rational exploitation of these interactions in a myriad of chemical contexts.

Weakly coupled map lattice models for multicellular patterning and collective normalization of abnormal single-cell states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Morales, Vladimir; Manzanares, José A.; Mafe, Salvador

2017-04-01

We present a weakly coupled map lattice model for patterning that explores the effects exerted by weakening the local dynamic rules on model biological and artificial networks composed of two-state building blocks (cells). To this end, we use two cellular automata models based on (i) a smooth majority rule (model I) and (ii) a set of rules similar to those of Conway's Game of Life (model II). The normal and abnormal cell states evolve according to local rules that are modulated by a parameter κ . This parameter quantifies the effective weakening of the prescribed rules due to the limited coupling of each cell to its neighborhood and can be experimentally controlled by appropriate external agents. The emergent spatiotemporal maps of single-cell states should be of significance for positional information processes as well as for intercellular communication in tumorigenesis, where the collective normalization of abnormal single-cell states by a predominantly normal neighborhood may be crucial.

Weakly coupled map lattice models for multicellular patterning and collective normalization of abnormal single-cell states.

PubMed

García-Morales, Vladimir; Manzanares, José A; Mafe, Salvador

2017-04-01

We present a weakly coupled map lattice model for patterning that explores the effects exerted by weakening the local dynamic rules on model biological and artificial networks composed of two-state building blocks (cells). To this end, we use two cellular automata models based on (i) a smooth majority rule (model I) and (ii) a set of rules similar to those of Conway's Game of Life (model II). The normal and abnormal cell states evolve according to local rules that are modulated by a parameter κ. This parameter quantifies the effective weakening of the prescribed rules due to the limited coupling of each cell to its neighborhood and can be experimentally controlled by appropriate external agents. The emergent spatiotemporal maps of single-cell states should be of significance for positional information processes as well as for intercellular communication in tumorigenesis, where the collective normalization of abnormal single-cell states by a predominantly normal neighborhood may be crucial.

Imaging and radiation effects of gold nanoparticles in tumour cells

PubMed Central

McQuaid, Harold N.; Muir, Mark F.; Taggart, Laura E.; McMahon, Stephen J.; Coulter, Jonathan A.; Hyland, Wendy B.; Jain, Suneil; Butterworth, Karl T.; Schettino, Giuseppe; Prise, Kevin M.; Hirst, David G.; Botchway, Stanley W.; Currell, Fred J.

2016-01-01

Gold nanoparticle radiosensitization represents a novel technique in enhancement of ionising radiation dose and its effect on biological systems. Variation between theoretical predictions and experimental measurement is significant enough that the mechanism leading to an increase in cell killing and DNA damage is still not clear. We present the first experimental results that take into account both the measured biodistribution of gold nanoparticles at the cellular level and the range of the product electrons responsible for energy deposition. Combining synchrotron-generated monoenergetic X-rays, intracellular gold particle imaging and DNA damage assays, has enabled a DNA damage model to be generated that includes the production of intermediate electrons. We can therefore show for the first time good agreement between the prediction of biological outcomes from both the Local Effect Model and a DNA damage model with experimentally observed cell killing and DNA damage induction via the combination of X-rays and GNPs. However, the requirement of two distinct models as indicated by this mechanistic study, one for short-term DNA damage and another for cell survival, indicates that, at least for nanoparticle enhancement, it is not safe to equate the lethal lesions invoked in the local effect model with DNA damage events. PMID:26787230

Earthquake location in island arcs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Engdahl, E.R.; Dewey, J.W.; Fujita, K.

1982-01-01

A comprehensive data set of selected teleseismic P-wave arrivals and local-network P- and S-wave arrivals from large earthquakes occurring at all depths within a small section of the central Aleutians is used to examine the general problem of earthquake location in island arcs. Reference hypocenters for this special data set are determined for shallow earthquakes from local-network data and for deep earthquakes from combined local and teleseismic data by joint inversion for structure and location. The high-velocity lithospheric slab beneath the central Aleutians may displace hypocenters that are located using spherically symmetric Earth models; the amount of displacement depends on the position of the earthquakes with respect to the slab and on whether local or teleseismic data are used to locate the earthquakes. Hypocenters for trench and intermediate-depth events appear to be minimally biased by the effects of slab structure on rays to teleseismic stations. However, locations of intermediate-depth events based on only local data are systematically displaced southwards, the magnitude of the displacement being proportional to depth. Shallow-focus events along the main thrust zone, although well located using only local-network data, are severely shifted northwards and deeper, with displacements as large as 50 km, by slab effects on teleseismic travel times. Hypocenters determined by a method that utilizes seismic ray tracing through a three-dimensional velocity model of the subduction zone, derived by thermal modeling, are compared to results obtained by the method of joint hypocenter determination (JHD) that formally assumes a laterally homogeneous velocity model over the source region and treats all raypath anomalies as constant station corrections to the travel-time curve. The ray-tracing method has the theoretical advantage that it accounts for variations in travel-time anomalies within a group of events distributed over a sizable region of a dipping, high-velocity lithospheric slab. In application, JHD has the practical advantage that it does not require the specification of a theoretical velocity model for the slab. Considering earthquakes within a 260 km long by 60 km wide section of the Aleutian main thrust zone, our results suggest that the theoretical velocity structure of the slab is presently not sufficiently well known that accurate locations can be obtained independently of locally recorded data. Using a locally recorded earthquake as a calibration event, JHD gave excellent results over the entire section of the main thrust zone here studied, without showing a strong effect that might be attributed to spatially varying source-station anomalies. We also calibrated the ray-tracing method using locally recorded data and obtained results generally similar to those obtained by JHD. ?? 1982.

Representation of deforestation impacts on climate, water, and nutrient cycles in the ACME earth system model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, X.; Riley, W. J.; Zhu, Q.

2017-12-01

Deforestation causes a series of changes to the climate, water, and nutrient cycles. Employing a state-of-the-art earth system model—ACME (Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy), we comprehensively investigate the impacts of deforestation on these processes. We first assess the performance of the ACME Land Model (ALM) in simulating runoff, evapotranspiration, albedo, and plant productivity at 42 FLUXNET sites. The single column mode of ACME is then used to examine climate effects (temperature cooling/warming) and responses of runoff, evapotranspiration, and nutrient fluxes to deforestation. This approach separates local effects of deforestation from global circulation effects. To better understand the deforestation effects in a global context, we use the coupled (atmosphere, land, and slab ocean) mode of ACME to demonstrate the impacts of deforestation on global climate, water, and nutrient fluxes. Preliminary results showed that the land component of ACME has advantages in simulating these processes and that local deforestation has potentially large impacts on runoff and atmospheric processes.

The effects of temperature and magnetic flux on electron transport through a four-channel DNA model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Sunhee; Hedin, Eric; Joe, Yong

2010-03-01

The temperature dependence of the conductivity of lambda phage DNA has been measured by Tran et al [1] experimentally, where the conductivity displayed strong (weak) temperature dependence above (below) a threshold temperature. In order to understand the temperature effects of electron transport theoretically, we study a two-dimensional and four-channel DNA model using a tight-binding (TB) Hamiltonian. The thermal effects within a TB model are incorporated into the hopping integral and the relative twist angle from its equilibrium value between base-pairs. Since these thermal structural fluctuations localize the electronic wave functions in DNA, we examine a temperature-dependent localization length, a temperature-driven transmission, and current-voltage characteristics in this system. In addition, we incorporate magnetic field effects into the analysis of the transmission through DNA in order to modulate the quantum interference between the electron paths that comprise the 4-channel structure. [1] P. Tran, B. Alavi, and G. Gruner, PRL 85, 1564 (2000).

The Business Case for Automated Software Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menzies, Tim; Elrawas, Oussama; Hihn, Jairus M.; Feather, Martin S.; Madachy, Ray; Boehm, Barry

2007-01-01

Adoption of advanced automated SE (ASE) tools would be more favored if a business case could be made that these tools are more valuable than alternate methods. In theory, software prediction models can be used to make that case. In practice, this is complicated by the 'local tuning' problem. Normally. predictors for software effort and defects and threat use local data to tune their predictions. Such local tuning data is often unavailable. This paper shows that assessing the relative merits of different SE methods need not require precise local tunings. STAR 1 is a simulated annealer plus a Bayesian post-processor that explores the space of possible local tunings within software prediction models. STAR 1 ranks project decisions by their effects on effort and defects and threats. In experiments with NASA systems. STARI found one project where ASE were essential for minimizing effort/ defect/ threats; and another project were ASE tools were merely optional.

Reducing a cortical network to a Potts model yields storage capacity estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naim, Michelangelo; Boboeva, Vezha; Kang, Chol Jun; Treves, Alessandro

2018-04-01

An autoassociative network of Potts units, coupled via tensor connections, has been proposed and analysed as an effective model of an extensive cortical network with distinct short- and long-range synaptic connections, but it has not been clarified in what sense it can be regarded as an effective model. We draw here the correspondence between the two, which indicates the need to introduce a local feedback term in the reduced model, i.e. in the Potts network. An effective model allows the study of phase transitions. As an example, we study the storage capacity of the Potts network with this additional term, the local feedback w, which contributes to drive the activity of the network towards one of the stored patterns. The storage capacity calculation, performed using replica tools, is limited to fully connected networks, for which a Hamiltonian can be defined. To extend the results to the case of intermediate partial connectivity, we also derive the self-consistent signal-to-noise analysis for the Potts network; and finally we discuss the implications for semantic memory in humans.

A multi-agent quantum Monte Carlo model for charge transport: Application to organic field-effect transistors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bauer, Thilo; Jäger, Christof M.; Jordan, Meredith J. T.

2015-07-28

We have developed a multi-agent quantum Monte Carlo model to describe the spatial dynamics of multiple majority charge carriers during conduction of electric current in the channel of organic field-effect transistors. The charge carriers are treated by a neglect of diatomic differential overlap Hamiltonian using a lattice of hydrogen-like basis functions. The local ionization energy and local electron affinity defined previously map the bulk structure of the transistor channel to external potentials for the simulations of electron- and hole-conduction, respectively. The model is designed without a specific charge-transport mechanism like hopping- or band-transport in mind and does not arbitrarily localizemore » charge. An electrode model allows dynamic injection and depletion of charge carriers according to source-drain voltage. The field-effect is modeled by using the source-gate voltage in a Metropolis-like acceptance criterion. Although the current cannot be calculated because the simulations have no time axis, using the number of Monte Carlo moves as pseudo-time gives results that resemble experimental I/V curves.« less

Multiresolution image registration in digital x-ray angiography with intensity variation modeling.

PubMed

Nejati, Mansour; Pourghassem, Hossein

2014-02-01

Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is a widely used technique for visualization of vessel anatomy in diagnosis and treatment. However, due to unavoidable patient motions, both externally and internally, the subtracted angiography images often suffer from motion artifacts that adversely affect the quality of the medical diagnosis. To cope with this problem and improve the quality of DSA images, registration algorithms are often employed before subtraction. In this paper, a novel elastic registration algorithm for registration of digital X-ray angiography images, particularly for the coronary location, is proposed. This algorithm includes a multiresolution search strategy in which a global transformation is calculated iteratively based on local search in coarse and fine sub-image blocks. The local searches are accomplished in a differential multiscale framework which allows us to capture both large and small scale transformations. The local registration transformation also explicitly accounts for local variations in the image intensities which incorporated into our model as a change of local contrast and brightness. These local transformations are then smoothly interpolated using thin-plate spline interpolation function to obtain the global model. Experimental results with several clinical datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in motion artifact reduction.

A simple model of the effect of ocean ventilation on ocean heat uptake

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nadiga, Balasubramanya T.; Urban, Nathan Mark

Presentation includes slides on Earth System Models vs. Simple Climate Models; A Popular SCM: Energy Balance Model of Anomalies; On calibrating against one ESM experiment, the SCM correctly captures that ESM's surface warming response with other forcings; Multi-Model Analysis: Multiple ESMs, Single SCM; Posterior Distributions of ECS; However In Excess of 90% of TOA Energy Imbalance is Sequestered in the World Oceans; Heat Storage in the Two Layer Model; Heat Storage in the Two Layer Model; Including TOA Rad. Imbalance and Ocean Heat in Calibration Improves Repr., but Significant Errors Persist; Improved Vertical Resolution Does Not Fix Problem; A Seriesmore » of Expts. Confirms That Anomaly-Diffusing Models Cannot Properly Represent Ocean Heat Uptake; Physics of the Thermocline; Outcropping Isopycnals and Horizontally-Averaged Layers; Local interactions between outcropping isopycnals leads to non-local interactions between horizontally-averaged layers; Both Surface Warming and Ocean Heat are Well Represented With Just 4 Layers; A Series of Expts. Confirms That When Non-Local Interactions are Allowed, the SCMs Can Represent Both Surface Warming and Ocean Heat Uptake; and Summary and Conclusions.« less

Quantifying predictability variations in a low-order ocean-atmosphere model - A dynamical systems approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nese, Jon M.; Dutton, John A.

1993-01-01

The predictability of the weather and climatic states of a low-order moist general circulation model is quantified using a dynamic systems approach, and the effect of incorporating a simple oceanic circulation on predictability is evaluated. The predictability and the structure of the model attractors are compared using Liapunov exponents, local divergence rates, and the correlation and Liapunov dimensions. It was found that the activation of oceanic circulation increases the average error doubling time of the atmosphere and the coupled ocean-atmosphere system by 10 percent and decreases the variance of the largest local divergence rate by 20 percent. When an oceanic circulation develops, the average predictability of annually averaged states is improved by 25 percent and the variance of the largest local divergence rate decreases by 25 percent.

Influence of yield surface curvature on the macroscopic yielding and ductile failure of isotropic porous plastic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dæhli, Lars Edvard Bryhni; Morin, David; Børvik, Tore; Hopperstad, Odd Sture

2017-10-01

Numerical unit cell models of an approximative representative volume element for a porous ductile solid are utilized to investigate differences in the mechanical response between a quadratic and a non-quadratic matrix yield surface. A Hershey equivalent stress measure with two distinct values of the yield surface exponent is employed as the matrix description. Results from the unit cell calculations are further used to calibrate a heuristic extension of the Gurson model which incorporates effects of the third deviatoric stress invariant. An assessment of the porous plasticity model reveals its ability to describe the unit cell response to some extent, however underestimating the effect of the Lode parameter for the lower triaxiality ratios imposed in this study when compared to unit cell simulations. Ductile failure predictions by means of finite element simulations using a unit cell model that resembles an imperfection band are then conducted to examine how the non-quadratic matrix yield surface influences the failure strain as compared to the quadratic matrix yield surface. Further, strain localization predictions based on bifurcation analyses and imperfection band analyses are undertaken using the calibrated porous plasticity model. These simulations are then compared to the unit cell calculations in order to elucidate the differences between the various modelling strategies. The current study reveals that strain localization analyses using an imperfection band model and a spatially discretized unit cell are in reasonable agreement, while the bifurcation analyses predict higher strain levels at localization. Imperfection band analyses are finally used to calculate failure loci for the quadratic and the non-quadratic matrix yield surface under a wide range of loading conditions. The underlying matrix yield surface is demonstrated to have a pronounced influence on the onset of strain localization.

Comparison of 10 efficient protocols for photodynamic therapy of actinic keratosis: How relevant are effective light dose and local damage in predicting the complete response rate at 3 months?

PubMed

Vignion-Dewalle, Anne-Sophie; Baert, Gregory; Thecua, Elise; Lecomte, Fabienne; Vicentini, Claire; Abi-Rached, Henry; Mortier, Laurent; Mordon, Serge

2018-04-18

Topical photodynamic therapy is an established treatment modality for various dermatological conditions, including actinic keratosis. In Europe, the approved protocols for photodynamic therapy of actinic keratosis involve irradiation with either an Aktilite CL 128 lamp or daylight, whereas irradiation with the Blu-U illuminator is approved in the United States. Many other protocols using irradiation by a variety of light sources are also clinically efficient. This paper aims to compare 10 different protocols with clinically proven efficacy for photodynamic therapy of actinic keratosis and the available spectral irradiance of the light source. Effective irradiance, effective light dose, and local damage are compared. We also investigate whether there is an association between the complete response rate at 3 months and the effective light dose or local damage. The effective irradiance, also referred to as protoporphyrin IX-weighted irradiance, is obtained by integrating the spectral irradiance weighted by the normalized absorption spectrum of protoporphyrin IX over the wavelength. Integrating the effective irradiance over the irradiation time yields the effective light dose, which is also known as the protoporphyrin IX-weighted light dose. Local damage, defined as the total cumulative singlet oxygen molecules produced during treatment, is estimated using mathematical modeling of the photodynamic therapy process. This modeling is based on an iterative procedure taking into account the spatial and temporal variations in the protoporphyrin IX absorption spectrum during treatment. The protocol for daylight photodynamic therapy on a clear sunny day, the protocol for daylight photodynamic therapy on an overcast day, the photodynamic therapy protocol for a white LED lamp for operating rooms and the photodynamic therapy protocol for the Blu-U illuminator perform better than the six other protocols-all involving red light illumination-in terms of both effective light dose and local damage. However, no association between the complete response rate at 3 months and the effective light dose or local damage was found. Protocols that achieve high complete response rates at 3 months and low pain scores should be preferred regardless of the effective light dose and local damage. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Premixed Edge-Flames in Spatially-Varying Straining Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Jian-Bang; Ronney, Paul D.

1999-01-01

Flames subject to temporally and spatially uniform hydrodynamic strain are frequently used to model the local interactions of flame fronts with turbulent flow fields (Williams, 1985; Peters, 1986; Bradley, 1992). The applicability of laminar flamelet models in strongly turbulent flows have been questioned recently (Shay and Ronney, 1998) because in turbulent flows the strain rate (sigma) changes at rates comparable to sigma itself and the scale over which the flame front curvature and sigma changes is comparable to the curvature scale itself. Therefore quasi-static, local models of turbulent strain and curvature effects on laminar flamelets may not be accurate under conditions where the strain and curvature effects are most significant. The purpose of this study is to examine flames in spatially-varying strain and compare their properties to those of uniformly strained flames.

Steady-state numerical groundwater flow model of the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brooks, Lynette E.; Masbruch, Melissa D.; Sweetkind, Donald S.; Buto, Susan G.

2014-01-01

Examples of potential use of the model to investigate the groundwater system include (1) the effects of different recharge, (2) different interpretations of the extent or offset of long faults or fault zones, and (3) different conceptual models of the spatial variation of hydraulic properties. The model can also be used to examine the ultimate effects of groundwater withdrawals on a regional scale, to provide boundary conditions for local-scale models, and to guide data collection.

Discrete-element modeling of nacre-like materials: Effects of random microstructures on strain localization and mechanical performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abid, Najmul; Mirkhalaf, Mohammad; Barthelat, Francois

2018-03-01

Natural materials such as nacre, collagen, and spider silk are composed of staggered stiff and strong inclusions in a softer matrix. This type of hybrid microstructure results in remarkable combinations of stiffness, strength, and toughness and it now inspires novel classes of high-performance composites. However, the analytical and numerical approaches used to predict and optimize the mechanics of staggered composites often neglect statistical variations and inhomogeneities, which may have significant impacts on modulus, strength, and toughness. Here we present an analysis of localization using small representative volume elements (RVEs) and large scale statistical volume elements (SVEs) based on the discrete element method (DEM). DEM is an efficient numerical method which enabled the evaluation of more than 10,000 microstructures in this study, each including about 5,000 inclusions. The models explore the combined effects of statistics, inclusion arrangement, and interface properties. We find that statistical variations have a negative effect on all properties, in particular on the ductility and energy absorption because randomness precipitates the localization of deformations. However, the results also show that the negative effects of random microstructures can be offset by interfaces with large strain at failure accompanied by strain hardening. More specifically, this quantitative study reveals an optimal range of interface properties where the interfaces are the most effective at delaying localization. These findings show how carefully designed interfaces in bioinspired staggered composites can offset the negative effects of microstructural randomness, which is inherent to most current fabrication methods.

Effect of intraarticular tramadol administration in the rat model of knee joint inflammation.

PubMed

Garlicki, Jarosław; Dorazil-Dudzik, Magdalena; Wordliczek, Jerzy; Przewłocka, Barbara

2006-01-01

Local administration of exogenous opioids may cause effective analgesia without adverse symptoms from the central nervous system. Experiments show that peripheral antinociceptive effect of opioids is observed especially in inflammatory pain. The aim of the research was to estimate the effect of tramadol on nociceptive process at the level of peripheral nervous system, after its local administration in the model of knee joint inflammation. Tramadol was administered intraarticulary into the rat knee joint, before the inflammation as a preemptive analgesia and, for comparison, after the intraarticular injection of carrageenan. The research determined the influence of tramadol injection on pain threshold for thermal stimuli, development of inflammatory processes using the measurement of joint edema and motor function following the induction of knee joint inflammation in the rat. Functional assessment of knee joint with inflammation, in terms of rats' mobility and body position as well as joint loading and mobility were studied. The results of the experiments show that local administration of tramadol induces antinociceptive effect. The effect of tramadol, which elicits also a decrease in inflammatory edema, appears not only after its administration after carrageenan when inflammation was already present, but also in the case of its injection prior to carrageenan in the scheme of preemptive analgesia. The results of the described research show that not only morphine but also another opioid, tramadol, widely used in clinical practice, inhibits nociception, edema and functional impairment of the paw after its local application directly to the inflamed knee joint.

Linking Local Scale Ecosystem Science to Regional Scale Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shope, C. L.; Tenhunen, J.; Peiffer, S.

2012-04-01

Ecosystem management with respect to sufficient water yield, a quality water supply, habitat and biodiversity conservation, and climate change effects requires substantial observational data at a range of scales. Complex interactions of local physical processes oftentimes vary over space and time, particularly in locations with extreme meteorological conditions. Modifications to local conditions (ie: agricultural land use changes, nutrient additions, landscape management, water usage) can further affect regional ecosystem services. The international, inter-disciplinary TERRECO research group is intensively investigating a variety of local processes, parameters, and conditions to link complex physical, economic, and social interactions at the regional scale. Field-based meteorology, hydrology, soil physics, plant production, solute and sediment transport, economic, and social behavior data were measured in a South Korean catchment. The data are used to parameterize suite of models describing local to landscape level water, sediment, nutrient, and monetary relationships. We focus on using the agricultural and hydrological SWAT model to synthesize the experimental field data and local-scale models throughout the catchment. The approach of our study was to describe local scientific processes, link potential interrelationships between different processes, and predict environmentally efficient management efforts. The Haean catchment case study shows how research can be structured to provide cross-disciplinary scientific linkages describing complex ecosystems and landscapes that can be used for regional management evaluations and predictions.

Local facet approximation for image stitching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jing; Lai, Shiming; Liu, Yu; Wang, Zhengming; Zhang, Maojun

2018-01-01

Image stitching aims at eliminating multiview parallax and generating a seamless panorama given a set of input images. This paper proposes a local adaptive stitching method, which could achieve both accurate and robust image alignments across the whole panorama. A transformation estimation model is introduced by approximating the scene as a combination of neighboring facets. Then, the local adaptive stitching field is constructed using a series of linear systems of the facet parameters, which enables the parallax handling in three-dimensional space. We also provide a concise but effective global projectivity preserving technique that smoothly varies the transformations from local adaptive to global planar. The proposed model is capable of stitching both normal images and fisheye images. The efficiency of our method is quantitatively demonstrated in the comparative experiments on several challenging cases.

Modeling the Effects of the Local Environment on a Received GNSS Signal

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-18

conducted in modern GNSS receivers, a major source of error is typically attributed to the impact that features in the local environment have on...signals, rather than signals impacted by real-world environmental effects. Because of this discrepancy between simulated and real-world signal...considered data segments will impact the estimation of parameters from the data segment currently 3 being considered, as may be the case when using an

Electrical coupling of single cardiac rat myocytes to field-effect and bipolar transistors.

PubMed

Kind, Thomas; Issing, Matthias; Arnold, Rüdiger; Müller, Bernt

2002-12-01

A novel bipolar transistor for extracellular recording the electrical activity of biological cells is presented, and the electrical behavior compared with the field-effect transistor (FET). Electrical coupling is examined between single cells separated from the heart of adults rats (cardiac myocytes) and both types of transistors. To initiate a local extracellular voltage, the cells are periodically stimulated by a patch pipette in voltage clamp and current clamp mode. The local extracellular voltage is measured by the planar integrated electronic sensors: the bipolar and the FET. The small signal transistor currents correspond to the local extracellular voltage. The two types of sensor transistors used here were developed and manufactured in the laboratory of our institute. The manufacturing process and the interfaces between myocytes and transistors are described. The recordings are interpreted by way of simulation based on the point-contact model and the single cardiac myocyte model.

Atomic quantum simulation of the lattice gauge-Higgs model: Higgs couplings and emergence of exact local gauge symmetry.

PubMed

Kasamatsu, Kenichi; Ichinose, Ikuo; Matsui, Tetsuo

2013-09-13

Recently, the possibility of quantum simulation of dynamical gauge fields was pointed out by using a system of cold atoms trapped on each link in an optical lattice. However, to implement exact local gauge invariance, fine-tuning the interaction parameters among atoms is necessary. In the present Letter, we study the effect of violation of the U(1) local gauge invariance by relaxing the fine-tuning of the parameters and showing that a wide variety of cold atoms is still a faithful quantum simulator for a U(1) gauge-Higgs model containing a Higgs field sitting on sites. The clarification of the dynamics of this gauge-Higgs model sheds some light upon various unsolved problems, including the inflation process of the early Universe. We study the phase structure of this model by Monte Carlo simulation and also discuss the atomic characteristics of the Higgs phase in each simulator.

Local-Scale Simulations of Nucleate Boiling on Micrometer Featured Surfaces: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sitaraman, Hariswaran; Moreno, Gilberto; Narumanchi, Sreekant V

2017-08-03

A high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based model for bubble nucleation of the refrigerant HFE7100 on micrometer-featured surfaces is presented in this work. The single-fluid incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, along with energy transport and natural convection effects are solved on a featured surface resolved grid. An a priori cavity detection method is employed to convert raw profilometer data of a surface into well-defined cavities. The cavity information and surface morphology are represented in the CFD model by geometric mesh deformations. Surface morphology is observed to initiate buoyancy-driven convection in the liquid phase, which in turn results in faster nucleation of cavities. Simulationsmore » pertaining to a generic rough surface show a trend where smaller size cavities nucleate with higher wall superheat. This local-scale model will serve as a self-consistent connection to larger device scale continuum models where local feature representation is not possible.« less

Local-Scale Simulations of Nucleate Boiling on Micrometer-Featured Surfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sitaraman, Hariswaran; Moreno, Gilberto; Narumanchi, Sreekant V

2017-07-12

A high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based model for bubble nucleation of the refrigerant HFE7100 on micrometer-featured surfaces is presented in this work. The single-fluid incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, along with energy transport and natural convection effects are solved on a featured surface resolved grid. An a priori cavity detection method is employed to convert raw profilometer data of a surface into well-defined cavities. The cavity information and surface morphology are represented in the CFD model by geometric mesh deformations. Surface morphology is observed to initiate buoyancy-driven convection in the liquid phase, which in turn results in faster nucleation of cavities. Simulationsmore » pertaining to a generic rough surface show a trend where smaller size cavities nucleate with higher wall superheat. This local-scale model will serve as a self-consistent connection to larger device scale continuum models where local feature representation is not possible.« less

Detailed modeling of local anisotropy and transverse Ku interplay regarding hysteresis loop in FeCuNbSiB nanocrystalline ribbons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geoffroy, Olivier; Boust, Nicolas; Chazal, Hervé; Flury, Sébastien; Roudet, James

2018-04-01

This article focuses on the modeling of the hysteresis loop featured by Fe-Cu-Nb-Si-B nanocrystalline alloys with transverse induced anisotropy. The magnetization reversal process of a magnetic correlated volume (CV), characterized by the induced anisotropy Ku, and a deviation of the local easy magnetization direction featuring the effect of a local incoherent anisotropy Ki, is analyzed, taking account of magnetostatic interactions. Solving the equations shows that considering a unique typical kind of CV does not enable accounting for both the domain pattern and the coercivity. Actually, the classical majority CVs obeying the random anisotropy model explains well the domain pattern but considering another kind of CVs, minority, mingled with classical ones, featuring a magnitude of Ki comparable to Ku, is necessary to account for coercivity. The model has been successfully compared with experimental data.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Staring, M., E-mail: m.staring@lumc.nl; Bakker, M. E.; Shamonin, D. P.

Purpose: Whole lung densitometry on chest CT images is an accepted method for measuring tissue destruction in patients with pulmonary emphysema in clinical trials. Progression measurement is required for evaluation of change in health condition and the effect of drug treatment. Information about the location of emphysema progression within the lung may be important for the correct interpretation of drug efficacy, or for determining a treatment plan. The purpose of this study is therefore to develop and validate methods that enable the local measurement of lung density changes, which requires proper modeling of the effect of respiration on density. Methods:more » Four methods, all based on registration of baseline and follow-up chest CT scans, are compared. The first naïve method subtracts registered images. The second employs the so-called dry sponge model, where volume correction is performed using the determinant of the Jacobian of the transformation. The third and the fourth introduce a novel adaptation of the dry sponge model that circumvents its constant-mass assumption, which is shown to be invalid. The latter two methods require a third CT scan at a different inspiration level to estimate the patient-specific density-volume slope, where one method employs a global and the other a local slope. The methods were validated on CT scans of a phantom mimicking the lung, where mass and volume could be controlled. In addition, validation was performed on data of 21 patients with pulmonary emphysema. Results: The image registration method was optimized leaving a registration error below half the slice increment (median 1.0 mm). The phantom study showed that the locally adapted slope model most accurately measured local progression. The systematic error in estimating progression, as measured on the phantom data, was below 2 gr/l for a 70 ml (6%) volume difference, and 5 gr/l for a 210 ml (19%) difference, if volume correction was applied. On the patient data an underlying linearity assumption relating lung volume change with density change was shown to hold (fitR{sup 2} = 0.94), and globalized versions of the local models are consistent with global results (R{sup 2} of 0.865 and 0.882 for the two adapted slope models, respectively). Conclusions: In conclusion, image matching and subsequent analysis of differences according to the proposed lung models (i) has good local registration accuracy on patient data, (ii) effectively eliminates a dependency on inspiration level at acquisition time, (iii) accurately predicts progression in phantom data, and (iv) is reasonably consistent with global results in patient data. It is therefore a potential future tool for assessing local emphysema progression in drug evaluation trials and in clinical practice.« less

Decision support for evidence-based integration of disease control: A proof of concept for malaria and schistosomiasis

PubMed Central

Graeden, Ellie; Kerr, Justin; Sorrell, Erin M.; Katz, Rebecca

2018-01-01

Managing infectious disease requires rapid and effective response to support decision making. The decisions are complex and require understanding of the diseases, disease intervention and control measures, and the disease-relevant characteristics of the local community. Though disease modeling frameworks have been developed to address these questions, the complexity of current models presents a significant barrier to community-level decision makers in using the outputs of the most scientifically robust methods to support pragmatic decisions about implementing a public health response effort, even for endemic diseases with which they are already familiar. Here, we describe the development of an application available on the internet, including from mobile devices, with a simple user interface, to support on-the-ground decision-making for integrating disease control programs, given local conditions and practical constraints. The model upon which the tool is built provides predictive analysis for the effectiveness of integration of schistosomiasis and malaria control, two diseases with extensive geographical and epidemiological overlap, and which result in significant morbidity and mortality in affected regions. Working with data from countries across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, we present a proof-of-principle method and corresponding prototype tool to provide guidance on how to optimize integration of vertical disease control programs. This method and tool demonstrate significant progress in effectively translating the best available scientific models to support practical decision making on the ground with the potential to significantly increase the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of disease control. Author summary Designing and implementing effective programs for infectious disease control requires complex decision-making, informed by an understanding of the diseases, the types of disease interventions and control measures available, and the disease-relevant characteristics of the local community. Though disease modeling frameworks have been developed to address these questions and support decision-making, the complexity of current models presents a significant barrier to on-the-ground end users. The picture is further complicated when considering approaches for integration of different disease control programs, where co-infection dynamics, treatment interactions, and other variables must also be taken into account. Here, we describe the development of an application available on the internet with a simple user interface, to support on-the-ground decision-making for integrating disease control, given local conditions and practical constraints. The model upon which the tool is built provides predictive analysis for the effectiveness of integration of schistosomiasis and malaria control, two diseases with extensive geographical and epidemiological overlap. This proof-of-concept method and tool demonstrate significant progress in effectively translating the best available scientific models to support pragmatic decision-making on the ground, with the potential to significantly increase the impact and cost-effectiveness of disease control. PMID:29649260

Development of a predictive model to estimate the effect of soil solarization on survival of soilborne inoculum of Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora pini

Treesearch

Fumiaki Funahashi; Jennifer L. Parke

2017-01-01

Soil solarization has been shown to be an effective tool to manage Phytophthora spp. within surface soils, but estimating the minimum time required to complete local eradication under variable weather conditions remains unknown. A mathematical model could help predict the effectiveness of solarization at different sites and soil depths....

Brain MRI Tumor Detection using Active Contour Model and Local Image Fitting Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabizadeh, Nooshin; John, Nigel

2014-03-01

Automatic abnormality detection in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an important issue in many diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Here an automatic brain tumor detection method is introduced that uses T1-weighted images and K. Zhang et. al.'s active contour model driven by local image fitting (LIF) energy. Local image fitting energy obtains the local image information, which enables the algorithm to segment images with intensity inhomogeneities. Advantage of this method is that the LIF energy functional has less computational complexity than the local binary fitting (LBF) energy functional; moreover, it maintains the sub-pixel accuracy and boundary regularization properties. In Zhang's algorithm, a new level set method based on Gaussian filtering is used to implement the variational formulation, which is not only vigorous to prevent the energy functional from being trapped into local minimum, but also effective in keeping the level set function regular. Experiments show that the proposed method achieves high accuracy brain tumor segmentation results.

A Local Approximation of Fundamental Measure Theory Incorporated into Three Dimensional Poisson-Nernst-Planck Equations to Account for Hard Sphere Repulsion Among Ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiao, Yu; Liu, Xuejiao; Chen, Minxin; Lu, Benzhuo

2016-04-01

The hard sphere repulsion among ions can be considered in the Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) equations by combining the fundamental measure theory (FMT). To reduce the nonlocal computational complexity in 3D simulation of biological systems, a local approximation of FMT is derived, which forms a local hard sphere PNP (LHSPNP) model. In the derivation, the excess chemical potential from hard sphere repulsion is obtained with the FMT and has six integration components. For the integrands and weighted densities in each component, Taylor expansions are performed and the lowest order approximations are taken, which result in the final local hard sphere (LHS) excess chemical potential with four components. By plugging the LHS excess chemical potential into the ionic flux expression in the Nernst-Planck equation, the three dimensional LHSPNP is obtained. It is interestingly found that the essential part of free energy term of the previous size modified model (Borukhov et al. in Phys Rev Lett 79:435-438, 1997; Kilic et al. in Phys Rev E 75:021502, 2007; Lu and Zhou in Biophys J 100:2475-2485, 2011; Liu and Eisenberg in J Chem Phys 141:22D532, 2014) has a very similar form to one term of the LHS model, but LHSPNP has more additional terms accounting for size effects. Equation of state for one component homogeneous fluid is studied for the local hard sphere approximation of FMT and is proved to be exact for the first two virial coefficients, while the previous size modified model only presents the first virial coefficient accurately. To investigate the effects of LHS model and the competitions among different counterion species, numerical experiments are performed for the traditional PNP model, the LHSPNP model, the previous size modified PNP (SMPNP) model and the Monte Carlo simulation. It's observed that in steady state the LHSPNP results are quite different from the PNP results, but are close to the SMPNP results under a wide range of boundary conditions. Besides, in both LHSPNP and SMPNP models the stratification of one counterion species can be observed under certain bulk concentrations.

Scaling-up essential neuropsychiatric services in Ethiopia: a cost-effectiveness analysis

PubMed Central

Strand, Kirsten Bjerkreim; Chisholm, Dan; Fekadu, Abebaw; Johansson, Kjell Arne

2016-01-01

Introduction There is an immense need for scaling-up neuropsychiatric care in low-income countries. Contextualized cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) provide relevant information for local policies. The aim of this study is to perform a contextualized CEA of neuropsychiatric interventions in Ethiopia and to illustrate expected population health and budget impacts across neuropsychiatric disorders. Methods A mathematical population model (PopMod) was used to estimate intervention costs and effectiveness. Existing variables from a previous WHO-CHOICE regional CEA model were substantially revised. Treatments for depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and epilepsy were analysed. The best available local data on epidemiology, intervention efficacy, current and target coverage, resource prices and salaries were used. Data were obtained from expert opinion, local hospital information systems, the Ministry of Health and literature reviews. Results Treatment of epilepsy with a first generation antiepileptic drug is the most cost-effective treatment (US$ 321 per DALY adverted). Treatments for depression have mid-range values compared with other interventions (US$ 457–1026 per DALY adverted). Treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorders are least cost-effective (US$ 1168–3739 per DALY adverted). Conclusion This analysis gives the Ethiopian government a comprehensive overview of the expected costs, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of introducing basic neuropsychiatric interventions. PMID:26491060

Air quality management: evolution of policy and practice in the UK as exemplified by the experience of English local government

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beattie, C. I.; Longhurst, J. W. S.; Woodfield, N. K.

The air quality management (AQM) framework in the UK is designed to be an effects-based solution to air pollutants currently affecting human health. The AQM process has been legislated through The Environment Act 1995, which required the National Air Quality Strategy (NAQS) to be published. AQM practice and capability within local authorities has flourished since the publication of the NAQS in March 1997. This paper outlines the policy framework within which the UK operates, both at a domestic and European level, and reviews the air quality management process relating to current UK policy and EU policy. Data from questionnaire surveys are used to indicate the involvement of various sectors of local government in the air quality management process. These data indicate an increasing use of monitoring, and use of air dispersion modelling by English local authorities. Data relating to the management of air quality, for example, the existence and work of air quality groups, dissemination of information to the public and policy measures in place on a local scale to improve air quality, have also been reported. The UK NAQS has been reviewed in 1999 to reflect developments in European legislation, technological and scientific advances, improved air pollution modelling techniques and an increasingly better understanding of the socio-economic issues involved. The AQM process, as implemented by UK local authorities, provides an effective model for other European member states with regards to the implementation of the Air Quality Framework Directive. The future direction of air quality policy in the UK is also discussed.

Yielding of a model glass former: An interpretation with an effective system of icosahedra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinney, Rhiannon; Liverpool, Tanniemola B.; Royall, C. Patrick

2018-03-01

We consider the yielding under simple shear of a binary Lennard-Jones glass former whose super-Arrhenius dynamics are correlated with the formation of icosahedral structures. We recast this glass former as an effective system of icosahedra [Pinney et al., J. Chem. Phys. 143, 244507 (2015), 10.1063/1.4938424]. Looking at the small-strain region of sheared simulations, we observe that shear rates affect the shear localization behavior particularly at temperatures below the glass transition as defined with a fit to the Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation. At higher temperature, shear localization starts immediately on shearing for all shear rates. At lower temperatures, faster shear rates can result in a delayed start in shear localization, which begins close to the yield stress. Building from a previous work which considered steady-state shear [Pinney et al., J. Chem. Phys. 143, 244507 (2015), 10.1063/1.4938424], we interpret the response to shear and the shear localization in terms of a local effective temperature with our system of icosahedra. We find that the effective temperatures of the regions undergoing shear localization increase significantly with increasing strain (before reaching a steady-state plateau).

Effect of wave localization on plasma instabilities. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levedahl, William Kirk

1987-01-01

The Anderson model of wave localization in random media is involved to study the effect of solar wind density turbulence on plasma processes associated with the solar type III radio burst. ISEE-3 satellite data indicate that a possible model for the type III process is the parametric decay of Langmuir waves excited by solar flare electron streams into daughter electromagnetic and ion acoustic waves. The threshold for this instability, however, is much higher than observed Langmuir wave levels because of rapid wave convection of the transverse electromagnetic daughter wave in the case where the solar wind is assumed homogeneous. Langmuir and transverse waves near critical density satisfy the Ioffe-Reigel criteria for wave localization in the solar wind with observed density fluctuations -1 percent. Numerical simulations of wave propagation in random media confirm the localization length predictions of Escande and Souillard for stationary density fluctations. For mobile density fluctuations localized wave packets spread at the propagation velocity of the density fluctuations rather than the group velocity of the waves. Computer simulations using a linearized hybrid code show that an electron beam will excite localized Langmuir waves in a plasma with density turbulence. An action principle approach is used to develop a theory of non-linear wave processes when waves are localized. A theory of resonant particles diffusion by localized waves is developed to explain the saturation of the beam-plasma instability. It is argued that localization of electromagnetic waves will allow the instability threshold to be exceeded for the parametric decay discussed above.

A modeling tool to evaluate regional coral reef responses to changes in climate and ocean chemistry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buddemeier, R.W.; Jokiel, P.L.; Zimmerman, K.M.; Lane, D.R.; Carey, J.M.; Bohling, Geoffrey C.; Martinich, J.A.

2008-01-01

We developed a spreadsheet-based model for the use of managers, conservationists, and biologists for projecting the effects of climate change on coral reefs at local-to-regional scales. The COMBO (Coral Mortality and Bleaching Output) model calculates the impacts to coral reefs from changes in average SST and CO2 concentrations, and from high temperature mortality (bleaching) events. The model uses a probabilistic assessment of the frequency of high temperature events under a future climate to address scientific uncertainties about potential adverse effects. COMBO offers data libraries and default factors for three selected regions (Hawai'i, Great Barrier Reef, and Caribbean), but it is structured with user-selectable parameter values and data input options, making possible modifications to reflect local conditions or to incorporate local expertise. Preliminary results from sensitivity analyses and simulation examples for Hawai'i demonstrate the relative importance of high temperature events, increased average temperature, and increased CO2 concentration on the future status of coral reefs; Illustrate significant interactions among variables; and allow comparisons of past environmental history with future predictions. ?? 2008, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanugraphy, Inc.

Additions to Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (MARS-GRAM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justus, C. G.; James, Bonnie

1992-01-01

Three major additions or modifications were made to the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM): (1) in addition to the interactive version, a new batch version is available, which uses NAMELIST input, and is completely modular, so that the main driver program can easily be replaced by any calling program, such as a trajectory simulation program; (2) both the interactive and batch versions now have an option for treating local-scale dust storm effects, rather than just the global-scale dust storms in the original Mars-GRAM; and (3) the Zurek wave perturbation model was added, to simulate the effects of tidal perturbations, in addition to the random (mountain wave) perturbation model of the original Mars-GRAM. A minor modification was also made which allows heights to go 'below' local terrain height and return 'realistic' pressure, density, and temperature, and not the surface values, as returned by the original Mars-GRAM. This feature will allow simulations of Mars rover paths which might go into local 'valley' areas which lie below the average height of the present, rather coarse-resolution, terrain height data used by Mars-GRAM. Sample input and output of both the interactive and batch versions of Mars-GRAM are presented.

Additions to Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justus, C. G.

1991-01-01

Three major additions or modifications were made to the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM): (1) in addition to the interactive version, a new batch version is available, which uses NAMELIST input, and is completely modular, so that the main driver program can easily be replaced by any calling program, such as a trajectory simulation program; (2) both the interactive and batch versions now have an option for treating local-scale dust storm effects, rather than just the global-scale dust storms in the original Mars-GRAM; and (3) the Zurek wave perturbation model was added, to simulate the effects of tidal perturbations, in addition to the random (mountain wave) perturbation model of the original Mars-GRAM. A minor modification has also been made which allows heights to go below local terrain height and return realistic pressure, density, and temperature (not the surface values) as returned by the original Mars-GRAM. This feature will allow simulations of Mars rover paths which might go into local valley areas which lie below the average height of the present, rather coarse-resolution, terrain height data used by Mars-GRAM. Sample input and output of both the interactive and batch version of Mars-GRAM are presented.

Experimental study and theoretical interpretation of saturation effect on ultrasonic velocity in tight sandstones under different pressure conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dongqing; Wei, Jianxin; Di, Bangrang; Ding, Pinbo; Huang, Shiqi; Shuai, Da

2018-03-01

Understanding the influence of lithology, porosity, permeability, pore structure, fluid content and fluid distribution on the elastic wave properties of porous rocks is of great significance for seismic exploration. However, unlike conventional sandstones, the petrophysical characteristics of tight sandstones are more complex and less understood. To address this problem, we measured ultrasonic velocity in partially saturated tight sandstones under different effective pressures. A new model is proposed, combining the Mavko-Jizba-Gurevich relations and the White model. The proposed model can satisfactorily simulate and explain the saturation dependence and pressure dependence of velocity in tight sandstones. Under low effective pressure, the relationship of P-wave velocity to saturation is pre-dominantly attributed to local (pore scale) fluid flow and inhomogeneous pore-fluid distribution (large scale). At higher effective pressure, local fluid flow gradually decreases, and P-wave velocity gradually shifts from uniform saturation towards patchy saturation. We also find that shear modulus is more sensitive to saturation at low effective pressures. The new model includes wetting ratio, an adjustable parameter that is closely related to the relationship between shear modulus and saturation.

Cross-site comparison of land-use decision-making and its consequences across land systems with a generalized agent-based model.

PubMed

Magliocca, Nicholas R; Brown, Daniel G; Ellis, Erle C

2014-01-01

Local changes in land use result from the decisions and actions of land-users within land systems, which are structured by local and global environmental, economic, political, and cultural contexts. Such cross-scale causation presents a major challenge for developing a general understanding of how local decision-making shapes land-use changes at the global scale. This paper implements a generalized agent-based model (ABM) as a virtual laboratory to explore how global and local processes influence the land-use and livelihood decisions of local land-users, operationalized as settlement-level agents, across the landscapes of six real-world test sites. Test sites were chosen in USA, Laos, and China to capture globally-significant variation in population density, market influence, and environmental conditions, with land systems ranging from swidden to commercial agriculture. Publicly available global data were integrated into the ABM to model cross-scale effects of economic globalization on local land-use decisions. A suite of statistics was developed to assess the accuracy of model-predicted land-use outcomes relative to observed and random (i.e. null model) landscapes. At four of six sites, where environmental and demographic forces were important constraints on land-use choices, modeled land-use outcomes were more similar to those observed across sites than the null model. At the two sites in which market forces significantly influenced land-use and livelihood decisions, the model was a poorer predictor of land-use outcomes than the null model. Model successes and failures in simulating real-world land-use patterns enabled the testing of hypotheses on land-use decision-making and yielded insights on the importance of missing mechanisms. The virtual laboratory approach provides a practical framework for systematic improvement of both theory and predictive skill in land change science based on a continual process of experimentation and model enhancement.

Cross-Site Comparison of Land-Use Decision-Making and Its Consequences across Land Systems with a Generalized Agent-Based Model

PubMed Central

Magliocca, Nicholas R.; Brown, Daniel G.; Ellis, Erle C.

2014-01-01

Local changes in land use result from the decisions and actions of land-users within land systems, which are structured by local and global environmental, economic, political, and cultural contexts. Such cross-scale causation presents a major challenge for developing a general understanding of how local decision-making shapes land-use changes at the global scale. This paper implements a generalized agent-based model (ABM) as a virtual laboratory to explore how global and local processes influence the land-use and livelihood decisions of local land-users, operationalized as settlement-level agents, across the landscapes of six real-world test sites. Test sites were chosen in USA, Laos, and China to capture globally-significant variation in population density, market influence, and environmental conditions, with land systems ranging from swidden to commercial agriculture. Publicly available global data were integrated into the ABM to model cross-scale effects of economic globalization on local land-use decisions. A suite of statistics was developed to assess the accuracy of model-predicted land-use outcomes relative to observed and random (i.e. null model) landscapes. At four of six sites, where environmental and demographic forces were important constraints on land-use choices, modeled land-use outcomes were more similar to those observed across sites than the null model. At the two sites in which market forces significantly influenced land-use and livelihood decisions, the model was a poorer predictor of land-use outcomes than the null model. Model successes and failures in simulating real-world land-use patterns enabled the testing of hypotheses on land-use decision-making and yielded insights on the importance of missing mechanisms. The virtual laboratory approach provides a practical framework for systematic improvement of both theory and predictive skill in land change science based on a continual process of experimentation and model enhancement. PMID:24489696

Local lattice distortion in high-entropy alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Hongquan; Tian, Fuyang; Hu, Qing-Miao; Vitos, Levente; Wang, Yandong; Shen, Jiang; Chen, Nanxian

2017-07-01

The severe local lattice distortion, induced mainly by the large atomic size mismatch of the alloy components, is one of the four core effects responsible for the unprecedented mechanical behaviors of high-entropy alloys (HEAs). In this work, we propose a supercell model, in which every lattice site has similar local atomic environment, to describe the random distributions of the atomic species in HEAs. Using these supercells in combination with ab initio calculations, we investigate the local lattice distortion of refractory HEAs with body-centered-cubic structure and 3 d HEAs with face-centered-cubic structure. Our results demonstrate that the local lattice distortion of the refractory HEAs is much more significant than that of the 3 d HEAs. We show that the atomic size mismatch evaluated with the empirical atomic radii is not accurate enough to describe the local lattice distortion. Both the lattice distortion energy and the mixing entropy contribute significantly to the thermodynamic stability of HEAs. However the local lattice distortion has negligible effect on the equilibrium lattice parameter and bulk modulus.

Investigation of Micro-Scale Architectural Effects on Damage of Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stier, Bertram; Bednarcyk, Brett A.; Simon, Jaan W.; Reese, Stefanie

2015-01-01

This paper presents a three-dimensional, energy based, anisotropic, stiffness reduction, progressive damage model for composite materials and composite material constituents. The model has been implemented as a user-defined constitutive model within the Abaqus finite element software package and applied to simulate the nonlinear behavior of a damaging epoxy matrix within a unidirectional composite material. Three different composite microstructures were considered as finite element repeating unit cells, with appropriate periodicity conditions applied at the boundaries. Results representing predicted transverse tensile, longitudinal shear, and transverse shear stress-strain curves are presented, along with plots of the local fields indicating the damage progression within the microstructure. It is demonstrated that the damage model functions appropriately at the matrix scale, enabling localization of the damage to simulate failure of the composite material. The influence of the repeating unit cell geometry and the effect of the directionality of the applied loading are investigated and discussed.

Incorporating evolutionary processes into population viability models.

PubMed

Pierson, Jennifer C; Beissinger, Steven R; Bragg, Jason G; Coates, David J; Oostermeijer, J Gerard B; Sunnucks, Paul; Schumaker, Nathan H; Trotter, Meredith V; Young, Andrew G

2015-06-01

We examined how ecological and evolutionary (eco-evo) processes in population dynamics could be better integrated into population viability analysis (PVA). Complementary advances in computation and population genomics can be combined into an eco-evo PVA to offer powerful new approaches to understand the influence of evolutionary processes on population persistence. We developed the mechanistic basis of an eco-evo PVA using individual-based models with individual-level genotype tracking and dynamic genotype-phenotype mapping to model emergent population-level effects, such as local adaptation and genetic rescue. We then outline how genomics can allow or improve parameter estimation for PVA models by providing genotypic information at large numbers of loci for neutral and functional genome regions. As climate change and other threatening processes increase in rate and scale, eco-evo PVAs will become essential research tools to evaluate the effects of adaptive potential, evolutionary rescue, and locally adapted traits on persistence. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Quasi-particle energy spectra in local reduced density matrix functional theory.

PubMed

Lathiotakis, Nektarios N; Helbig, Nicole; Rubio, Angel; Gidopoulos, Nikitas I

2014-10-28

Recently, we introduced [N. N. Lathiotakis, N. Helbig, A. Rubio, and N. I. Gidopoulos, Phys. Rev. A 90, 032511 (2014)] local reduced density matrix functional theory (local RDMFT), a theoretical scheme capable of incorporating static correlation effects in Kohn-Sham equations. Here, we apply local RDMFT to molecular systems of relatively large size, as a demonstration of its computational efficiency and its accuracy in predicting single-electron properties from the eigenvalue spectrum of the single-particle Hamiltonian with a local effective potential. We present encouraging results on the photoelectron spectrum of molecular systems and the relative stability of C20 isotopes. In addition, we propose a modelling of the fractional occupancies as functions of the orbital energies that further improves the efficiency of the method useful in applications to large systems and solids.

Improved efficacy of allergen-specific immunotherapy by JAK inhibition in a murine model of allergic asthma

PubMed Central

Alessandrini, Francesca; Fuchs, Helmut; Gailus-Durner, Valerie; Hrabě de Angelis, Martin; Russkamp, Dennis; Chaker, Adam; Ollert, Markus; Gutermuth, Jan; Schmidt-Weber, Carsten B.

2017-01-01

Background Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only curative treatment for type-1 allergies, but sometimes shows limited therapeutic response as well as local and systemic side effects. Limited control of local inflammation and patient symptoms hampers its widespread use in severe allergic asthma. Objective Our aim was to evaluate whether AIT is more effective in suppression of local inflammation if performed under the umbrella of short-term non-specific immunomodulation using a small molecule inhibitor of JAK pathways. Methods In C57BL/6J mice, a model of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic airway inflammation and allergen-specific immunotherapy was combined with the administration of Tofacitinib (TOFA, a FDA-approved JAK inhibitor) from 48 hours prior to 48 hours after therapeutic OVA-injection. The effect of TOFA on human FOXP3+CD4+ T cells was studied in vitro. Results AIT combined with short-term TOFA administration was significantly more effective in suppressing total cell and eosinophil infiltration into the lung, local cytokine production including IL-1β and CXCL1 and showed a trend for the reduction of IL-4, IL-13, TNF-α and IL-6 compared to AIT alone. Furthermore, TOFA co-administration significantly reduced systemic IL-6, IL-1β and OVA-specific IgE levels and induced IgG1 to the same extent as AIT alone. Additionally, TOFA enhanced the induction of human FOXP3+CD4+ T cells. Conclusions This proof of concept study shows that JAK inhibition did not inhibit tolerance induction, but improved experimental AIT at the level of local inflammation. The improved control of local inflammation might extend the use of AIT in more severe conditions such as polyallergy, asthma and high-risk patients suffering from mastocytosis or anaphylaxis. PMID:28570653

Improved efficacy of allergen-specific immunotherapy by JAK inhibition in a murine model of allergic asthma.

PubMed

Aguilar-Pimentel, Antonio; Graessel, Anke; Alessandrini, Francesca; Fuchs, Helmut; Gailus-Durner, Valerie; Hrabě de Angelis, Martin; Russkamp, Dennis; Chaker, Adam; Ollert, Markus; Blank, Simon; Gutermuth, Jan; Schmidt-Weber, Carsten B

2017-01-01

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only curative treatment for type-1 allergies, but sometimes shows limited therapeutic response as well as local and systemic side effects. Limited control of local inflammation and patient symptoms hampers its widespread use in severe allergic asthma. Our aim was to evaluate whether AIT is more effective in suppression of local inflammation if performed under the umbrella of short-term non-specific immunomodulation using a small molecule inhibitor of JAK pathways. In C57BL/6J mice, a model of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic airway inflammation and allergen-specific immunotherapy was combined with the administration of Tofacitinib (TOFA, a FDA-approved JAK inhibitor) from 48 hours prior to 48 hours after therapeutic OVA-injection. The effect of TOFA on human FOXP3+CD4+ T cells was studied in vitro. AIT combined with short-term TOFA administration was significantly more effective in suppressing total cell and eosinophil infiltration into the lung, local cytokine production including IL-1β and CXCL1 and showed a trend for the reduction of IL-4, IL-13, TNF-α and IL-6 compared to AIT alone. Furthermore, TOFA co-administration significantly reduced systemic IL-6, IL-1β and OVA-specific IgE levels and induced IgG1 to the same extent as AIT alone. Additionally, TOFA enhanced the induction of human FOXP3+CD4+ T cells. This proof of concept study shows that JAK inhibition did not inhibit tolerance induction, but improved experimental AIT at the level of local inflammation. The improved control of local inflammation might extend the use of AIT in more severe conditions such as polyallergy, asthma and high-risk patients suffering from mastocytosis or anaphylaxis.

Automatic control algorithm effects on energy production

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcnerney, G. M.

1981-01-01

A computer model was developed using actual wind time series and turbine performance data to simulate the power produced by the Sandia 17-m VAWT operating in automatic control. The model was used to investigate the influence of starting algorithms on annual energy production. The results indicate that, depending on turbine and local wind characteristics, a bad choice of a control algorithm can significantly reduce overall energy production. The model can be used to select control algorithms and threshold parameters that maximize long term energy production. The results from local site and turbine characteristics were generalized to obtain general guidelines for control algorithm design.

Gryphon: A Hybrid Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation Platform for Infectious Diseases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Bin; Wang, Jijun; McGowan, Michael; Vaidyanathan, Ganesh; Younger, Kristofer

In this paper we present Gryphon, a hybrid agent-based stochastic modeling and simulation platform developed for characterizing the geographic spread of infectious diseases and the effects of interventions. We study both local and non-local transmission dynamics of stochastic simulations based on the published parameters and data for SARS. The results suggest that the expected numbers of infections and the timeline of control strategies predicted by our stochastic model are in reasonably good agreement with previous studies. These preliminary results indicate that Gryphon is able to characterize other future infectious diseases and identify endangered regions in advance.

The Local Brewery: A Project for Use in Differential Equations Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starling, James K.; Povich, Timothy J.; Findlay, Michael

2016-01-01

We describe a modeling project designed for an ordinary differential equations (ODEs) course using first-order and systems of first-order differential equations to model the fermentation process in beer. The project aims to expose the students to the modeling process by creating and solving a mathematical model and effectively communicating their…

A Comparison of Two-Stage Approaches for Fitting Nonlinear Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) Models with Mixed Effects

PubMed Central

Chow, Sy-Miin; Bendezú, Jason J.; Cole, Pamela M.; Ram, Nilam

2016-01-01

Several approaches currently exist for estimating the derivatives of observed data for model exploration purposes, including functional data analysis (FDA), generalized local linear approximation (GLLA), and generalized orthogonal local derivative approximation (GOLD). These derivative estimation procedures can be used in a two-stage process to fit mixed effects ordinary differential equation (ODE) models. While the performance and utility of these routines for estimating linear ODEs have been established, they have not yet been evaluated in the context of nonlinear ODEs with mixed effects. We compared properties of the GLLA and GOLD to an FDA-based two-stage approach denoted herein as functional ordinary differential equation with mixed effects (FODEmixed) in a Monte Carlo study using a nonlinear coupled oscillators model with mixed effects. Simulation results showed that overall, the FODEmixed outperformed both the GLLA and GOLD across all the embedding dimensions considered, but a novel use of a fourth-order GLLA approach combined with very high embedding dimensions yielded estimation results that almost paralleled those from the FODEmixed. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each approach and demonstrate how output from each stage of FODEmixed may be used to inform empirical modeling of young children’s self-regulation. PMID:27391255

A Comparison of Two-Stage Approaches for Fitting Nonlinear Ordinary Differential Equation Models with Mixed Effects.

PubMed

Chow, Sy-Miin; Bendezú, Jason J; Cole, Pamela M; Ram, Nilam

2016-01-01

Several approaches exist for estimating the derivatives of observed data for model exploration purposes, including functional data analysis (FDA; Ramsay & Silverman, 2005 ), generalized local linear approximation (GLLA; Boker, Deboeck, Edler, & Peel, 2010 ), and generalized orthogonal local derivative approximation (GOLD; Deboeck, 2010 ). These derivative estimation procedures can be used in a two-stage process to fit mixed effects ordinary differential equation (ODE) models. While the performance and utility of these routines for estimating linear ODEs have been established, they have not yet been evaluated in the context of nonlinear ODEs with mixed effects. We compared properties of the GLLA and GOLD to an FDA-based two-stage approach denoted herein as functional ordinary differential equation with mixed effects (FODEmixed) in a Monte Carlo (MC) study using a nonlinear coupled oscillators model with mixed effects. Simulation results showed that overall, the FODEmixed outperformed both the GLLA and GOLD across all the embedding dimensions considered, but a novel use of a fourth-order GLLA approach combined with very high embedding dimensions yielded estimation results that almost paralleled those from the FODEmixed. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each approach and demonstrate how output from each stage of FODEmixed may be used to inform empirical modeling of young children's self-regulation.

Importance of adequate local spatiotemporal transmission measures in malaria cohort studies: application to the relation between placental malaria and first malaria infection in infants.

PubMed

Le Port, Agnès; Cottrell, Gilles; Chandre, Fabrice; Cot, Michel; Massougbodji, Achille; Garcia, André

2013-07-01

According to several studies, infants whose mothers had a malaria-infected placenta (MIP) at delivery are at increased risk of a first malaria infection. Immune tolerance caused by intrauterine contact with the parasite could explain this phenomenon, but it is also known that infants who are highly exposed to Anopheles mosquitoes infected with Plasmodium are at greater risk of contracting malaria. Consequently, local malaria transmission must be taken into account to demonstrate the immune tolerance hypothesis. From data collected between 2007 and 2010 on 545 infants followed from birth to age 18 months in southern Benin, we compared estimates of the effect of MIP on time to first malaria infection obtained through different Cox models. In these models, MIP was adjusted for either 1) "village-like" time-independent exposure variables or 2) spatiotemporal exposure prediction derived from local climatic, environmental, and behavioral factors. Only the use of exposure prediction improved the model's goodness of fit (Bayesian Information Criterion) and led to clear conclusions regarding the effect of placental infection, whereas the models using the village-like variables were less successful than the univariate model. This demonstrated clearly the benefit of adequately taking transmission into account in cohort studies of malaria.

Hyperspectral Analysis of Soil Total Nitrogen in Subsided Land Using the Local Correlation Maximization-Complementary Superiority (LCMCS) Method.

PubMed

Lin, Lixin; Wang, Yunjia; Teng, Jiyao; Xi, Xiuxiu

2015-07-23

The measurement of soil total nitrogen (TN) by hyperspectral remote sensing provides an important tool for soil restoration programs in areas with subsided land caused by the extraction of natural resources. This study used the local correlation maximization-complementary superiority method (LCMCS) to establish TN prediction models by considering the relationship between spectral reflectance (measured by an ASD FieldSpec 3 spectroradiometer) and TN based on spectral reflectance curves of soil samples collected from subsided land which is determined by synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) technology. Based on the 1655 selected effective bands of the optimal spectrum (OSP) of the first derivate differential of reciprocal logarithm ([log{1/R}]'), (correlation coefficients, p < 0.01), the optimal model of LCMCS method was obtained to determine the final model, which produced lower prediction errors (root mean square error of validation [RMSEV] = 0.89, mean relative error of validation [MREV] = 5.93%) when compared with models built by the local correlation maximization (LCM), complementary superiority (CS) and partial least squares regression (PLS) methods. The predictive effect of LCMCS model was optional in Cangzhou, Renqiu and Fengfeng District. Results indicate that the LCMCS method has great potential to monitor TN in subsided lands caused by the extraction of natural resources including groundwater, oil and coal.

Diffuse interface models of locally inextensible vesicles in a viscous fluid

PubMed Central

Aland, Sebastian; Egerer, Sabine; Lowengrub, John; Voigt, Axel

2014-01-01

We present a new diffuse interface model for the dynamics of inextensible vesicles in a viscous fluid with inertial forces. A new feature of this work is the implementation of the local inextensibility condition in the diffuse interface context. Local inextensibility is enforced by using a local Lagrange multiplier, which provides the necessary tension force at the interface. We introduce a new equation for the local Lagrange multiplier whose solution essentially provides a harmonic extension of the multiplier off the interface while maintaining the local inextensibility constraint near the interface. We also develop a local relaxation scheme that dynamically corrects local stretching/compression errors thereby preventing their accumulation. Asymptotic analysis is presented that shows that our new system converges to a relaxed version of the inextensible sharp interface model. This is also verified numerically. To solve the equations, we use an adaptive finite element method with implicit coupling between the Navier-Stokes and the diffuse interface inextensibility equations. Numerical simulations of a single vesicle in a shear flow at different Reynolds numbers demonstrate that errors in enforcing local inextensibility may accumulate and lead to large differences in the dynamics in the tumbling regime and smaller differences in the inclination angle of vesicles in the tank-treading regime. The local relaxation algorithm is shown to prevent the accumulation of stretching and compression errors very effectively. Simulations of two vesicles in an extensional flow show that local inextensibility plays an important role when vesicles are in close proximity by inhibiting fluid drainage in the near contact region. PMID:25246712

Effects of income redistribution on the evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pei, Zhenhua; Wang, Baokui; Du, Jinming

2017-01-01

Income redistribution is the transfer of income from some individuals to others directly or indirectly by means of social mechanisms, such as taxation, public services and so on. Employing a spatial public goods game, we study the influence of income redistribution on the evolution of cooperation. Two kinds of evolutionary models are constructed, which describe local and global redistribution of income respectively. In the local model, players have to pay part of their income after each PGG and the accumulated income is redistributed to the members. While in the global model, all the players pay part of their income after engaging in all the local PGGs, which are centred on himself and his nearest neighbours, and the accumulated income is redistributed to the whole population. We show that the cooperation prospers significantly with increasing income expenditure proportion in the local redistribution of income, while in the global model the situation is opposite. Furthermore, the cooperation drops dramatically from the maximum curvature point of income expenditure proportion. In particular, the intermediate critical points are closely related to the renormalized enhancement factors.

Congested traffic states in empirical observations and microscopic simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treiber, Martin; Hennecke, Ansgar; Helbing, Dirk

2000-08-01

We present data from several German freeways showing different kinds of congested traffic forming near road inhomogeneities, specifically lane closings, intersections, or uphill gradients. The states are localized or extended, homogeneous or oscillating. Combined states are observed as well, like the coexistence of moving localized clusters and clusters pinned at road inhomogeneities, or regions of oscillating congested traffic upstream of nearly homogeneous congested traffic. The experimental findings are consistent with a recently proposed theoretical phase diagram for traffic near on-ramps [D. Helbing, A. Hennecke, and M. Treiber, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4360 (1999)]. We simulate these situations with a continuous microscopic single-lane model, the ``intelligent driver model,'' using empirical boundary conditions. All observations, including the coexistence of states, are qualitatively reproduced by describing inhomogeneities with local variations of one model parameter. We show that the results of the microscopic model can be understood by formulating the theoretical phase diagram for bottlenecks in a more general way. In particular, a local drop of the road capacity induced by parameter variations has essentially the same effect as an on-ramp.

Matched field localization based on CS-MUSIC algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Shuangle; Tang, Ruichun; Peng, Linhui; Ji, Xiaopeng

2016-04-01

The problem caused by shortness or excessiveness of snapshots and by coherent sources in underwater acoustic positioning is considered. A matched field localization algorithm based on CS-MUSIC (Compressive Sensing Multiple Signal Classification) is proposed based on the sparse mathematical model of the underwater positioning. The signal matrix is calculated through the SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) of the observation matrix. The observation matrix in the sparse mathematical model is replaced by the signal matrix, and a new concise sparse mathematical model is obtained, which means not only the scale of the localization problem but also the noise level is reduced; then the new sparse mathematical model is solved by the CS-MUSIC algorithm which is a combination of CS (Compressive Sensing) method and MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) method. The algorithm proposed in this paper can overcome effectively the difficulties caused by correlated sources and shortness of snapshots, and it can also reduce the time complexity and noise level of the localization problem by using the SVD of the observation matrix when the number of snapshots is large, which will be proved in this paper.

A dynamic model of a cantilever beam with a closed, embedded horizontal crack including local flexibilities at crack tips

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Zhu, W. D.; Charalambides, P. G.; Shao, Y. M.; Xu, Y. F.; Fang, X. M.

2016-11-01

As one of major failure modes of mechanical structures subjected to periodic loads, embedded cracks due to fatigue can cause catastrophic failure of machineries. Understanding the dynamic characteristics of a structure with an embedded crack is helpful for early crack detection and diagnosis. In this work, a new three-segment beam model with local flexibilities at crack tips is developed to investigate the vibration of a cantilever beam with a closed, fully embedded horizontal crack, which is assumed to be not located at its clamped or free end or distributed near its top or bottom side. The three-segment beam model is assumed to be a linear elastic system, and it does not account for the nonlinear crack closure effect; the top and bottom segments always stay in contact at their interface during the beam vibration. It can model the effects of local deformations in the vicinity of the crack tips, which cannot be captured by previous methods in the literature. The middle segment of the beam containing the crack is modeled by a mechanically consistent, reduced bending moment. Each beam segment is assumed to be an Euler-Bernoulli beam, and the compliances at the crack tips are analytically determined using a J-integral approach and verified using commercial finite element software. Using compatibility conditions at the crack tips and the transfer matrix method, the nature frequencies and mode shapes of the cracked cantilever beam are obtained. The three-segment beam model is used to investigate the effects of local flexibilities at crack tips on the first three natural frequencies and mode shapes of the cracked cantilever beam. A stationary wavelet transform (SWT) method is used to process the mode shapes of the cracked cantilever beam; jumps in single-level SWT decomposition detail coefficients can be used to identify the length and location of an embedded horizontal crack.

Construction of exact constants of motion and effective models for many-body localized systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goihl, M.; Gluza, M.; Krumnow, C.; Eisert, J.

2018-04-01

One of the defining features of many-body localization is the presence of many quasilocal conserved quantities. These constants of motion constitute a cornerstone to an intuitive understanding of much of the phenomenology of many-body localized systems arising from effective Hamiltonians. They may be seen as local magnetization operators smeared out by a quasilocal unitary. However, accurately identifying such constants of motion remains a challenging problem. Current numerical constructions often capture the conserved operators only approximately, thus restricting a conclusive understanding of many-body localization. In this work, we use methods from the theory of quantum many-body systems out of equilibrium to establish an alternative approach for finding a complete set of exact constants of motion which are in addition guaranteed to represent Pauli-z operators. By this we are able to construct and investigate the proposed effective Hamiltonian using exact diagonalization. Hence, our work provides an important tool expected to further boost inquiries into the breakdown of transport due to quenched disorder.

Tensor scale-based fuzzy connectedness image segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, Punam K.; Udupa, Jayaram K.

2003-05-01

Tangible solutions to image segmentation are vital in many medical imaging applications. Toward this goal, a framework based on fuzzy connectedness was developed in our laboratory. A fundamental notion called "affinity" - a local fuzzy hanging togetherness relation on voxels - determines the effectiveness of this segmentation framework in real applications. In this paper, we introduce the notion of "tensor scale" - a recently developed local morphometric parameter - in affinity definition and study its effectiveness. Although, our previous notion of "local scale" using the spherical model successfully incorporated local structure size into affinity and resulted in measureable improvements in segmentation results, a major limitation of the previous approach was that it ignored local structural orientation and anisotropy. The current approach of using tensor scale in affinity computation allows an effective utilization of local size, orientation, and ansiotropy in a unified manner. Tensor scale is used for computing both the homogeneity- and object-feature-based components of affinity. Preliminary results of the proposed method on several medical images and computer generated phantoms of realistic shapes are presented. Further extensions of this work are discussed.

Effect of (social) media on the political figure fever model: Jokowi-fever model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yong, Benny; Samat, Nor Azah

2016-02-01

In recent years, political figures begin to utilize social media as one of alternative to engage in communication with their supporters. Publics referred to Jokowi, one of the candidates in Indonesia presidential election in 2014, as the first politician in Indonesia to truly understand the power of social media. Social media is very important in shaping public opinion. In this paper, effect of social media on the Jokowi-fever model in a closed population will be discussed. Supporter population is divided into three class sub-population, i.e susceptible supporters, Jokowi infected supporters, and recovered supporters. For case no positive media, there are two equilibrium points; the Jokowi-fever free equilibrium point in which it locally stable if basic reproductive ratio less than one and the Jokowi-fever endemic equilibrium point in which it locally stable if basic reproductive ratio greater than one. For case no negative media, there is only the Jokowi-fever endemic equilibrium point in which it locally stable if the condition is satisfied. Generally, for case positive media proportion is positive, there is no Jokowi-fever free equilibrium point. The numerical result shows that social media gives significantly effect on Jokowi-fever model, a sharp increase or a sharp decrease in the number of Jokowi infected supporters. It is also shown that the boredom rate is one of the sensitive parameters in the Jokowi-fever model; it affects the number of Jokowi infected supporters.

Chemical Defects, Electronic Structure, and Transport in N-type and P-type Organic Semiconductors: First Principles Theory

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-29

of localized states extending into the gap. We also introduced a simple model allowing estimates of the upper limit of the intra-grain mobility in...well as to pentacene , and DATT. This research will be described below. In addition to our work on the electronic structure and charge mobility, we have...stacking distance gives rise to a tail of localized states which act as traps for electrons and holes. We introduced a simple effective Hamiltonian model

Particle-in-cell modeling of laser Thomson scattering in low-density plasmas at elevated laser intensities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Powis, Andrew T.; Shneider, Mikhail N.

2018-05-01

Incoherent Thomson scattering is a non-intrusive technique commonly used for measuring local plasma density. Within low-density, low-temperature plasmas and for sufficient laser intensity, the laser may perturb the local electron density via the ponderomotive force, causing the diagnostic to become intrusive and leading to erroneous results. A theoretical model for this effect is validated numerically via kinetic simulations of a quasi-neutral plasma using the particle-in-cell technique.

The effect of interacting dark energy on local measurements of the Hubble constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Odderskov, Io; Baldi, Marco; Amendola, Luca, E-mail: isho07@phys.au.dk, E-mail: marco.baldi5@unibo.it, E-mail: l.amendola@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de

2016-05-01

In the current state of cosmology, where cosmological parameters are being measured to percent accuracy, it is essential to understand all sources of error to high precision. In this paper we present the results of a study of the local variations in the Hubble constant measured at the distance scale of the Coma Cluster, and test the validity of correcting for the peculiar velocities predicted by gravitational instability theory. The study is based on N-body simulations, and includes models featuring a coupling between dark energy and dark matter, as well as two ΛCDM simulations with different values of σ{sub 8}.more » It is found that the variance in the local flows is significantly larger in the coupled models, which increases the uncertainty in the local measurements of the Hubble constant in these scenarios. By comparing the results from the different simulations, it is found that most of the effect is caused by the higher value of σ{sub 8} in the coupled cosmologies, though this cannot account for all of the additional variance. Given the discrepancy between different estimates of the Hubble constant in the universe today, cosmological models causing a greater cosmic variance is something that we should be aware of.« less

Human motion tracking by temporal-spatial local gaussian process experts.

PubMed

Zhao, Xu; Fu, Yun; Liu, Yuncai

2011-04-01

Human pose estimation via motion tracking systems can be considered as a regression problem within a discriminative framework. It is always a challenging task to model the mapping from observation space to state space because of the high-dimensional characteristic in the multimodal conditional distribution. In order to build the mapping, existing techniques usually involve a large set of training samples in the learning process which are limited in their capability to deal with multimodality. We propose, in this work, a novel online sparse Gaussian Process (GP) regression model to recover 3-D human motion in monocular videos. Particularly, we investigate the fact that for a given test input, its output is mainly determined by the training samples potentially residing in its local neighborhood and defined in the unified input-output space. This leads to a local mixture GP experts system composed of different local GP experts, each of which dominates a mapping behavior with the specific covariance function adapting to a local region. To handle the multimodality, we combine both temporal and spatial information therefore to obtain two categories of local experts. The temporal and spatial experts are integrated into a seamless hybrid system, which is automatically self-initialized and robust for visual tracking of nonlinear human motion. Learning and inference are extremely efficient as all the local experts are defined online within very small neighborhoods. Extensive experiments on two real-world databases, HumanEva and PEAR, demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model, which significantly improve the performance of existing models.

Modeling of urban trees' effects on reducing human exposure to UV radiation in Seoul, Korea

Treesearch

Hang Ryeol Na; Gordon M. Heisler; David J. Nowak; Richard H. Grant

2014-01-01

A mathematical model isconstructed for quantifying urban trees’ effects on mitigating the intensity of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the ground within different landuse types across a city. The model is based upon local field data, meteorological data and equations designed to predict the reduced UV fraction due to trees at the ground level. Trees in Seoul, Korea (2010...

Economic outcomes of maintenance gefitinib for locally advanced/metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer with unknown EGFR mutations: a semi-Markov model analysis.

PubMed

Zeng, Xiaohui; Li, Jianhe; Peng, Liubao; Wang, Yunhua; Tan, Chongqing; Chen, Gannong; Wan, Xiaomin; Lu, Qiong; Yi, Lidan

2014-01-01

Maintenance gefitinib significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo in patients from eastern Asian with locally advanced/metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after four chemotherapeutic cycles (21 days per cycle) of first-line platinum-based combination chemotherapy without disease progression. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of maintenance gefitinib therapy after four chemotherapeutic cycle's stand first-line platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with unknown EGFR mutations, from a Chinese health care system perspective. A semi-Markov model was designed to evaluate cost-effectiveness of the maintenance gefitinib treatment. Two-parametric Weibull and Log-logistic distribution were fitted to PFS and overall survival curves independently. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the stability of the model designed. The model base-case analysis suggested that maintenance gefitinib would increase benefits in a 1, 3, 6 or 10-year time horizon, with incremental $184,829, $19,214, $19,328, and $21,308 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained, respectively. The most sensitive influential variable in the cost-effectiveness analysis was utility of PFS plus rash, followed by utility of PFS plus diarrhoea, utility of progressed disease, price of gefitinib, cost of follow-up treatment in progressed survival state, and utility of PFS on oral therapy. The price of gefitinib is the most significant parameter that could reduce the incremental cost per QALY. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the cost-effective probability of maintenance gefitinib was zero under the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $16,349 (3 × per-capita gross domestic product of China). The sensitivity analyses all suggested that the model was robust. Maintenance gefitinib following first-line platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC with unknown EGFR mutations is not cost-effective. Decreasing the price of gefitinib may be a preferential choice for meeting widely treatment demands in China.

Effect of microstructure and THCM processes on fault weakening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stefanou, I.; Sulem, J.; Rattez, H.

2017-12-01

Field observations of exhumed mature faults and outcrops, i.e. faults that have experienced a large slip, suggest that shear localization occurs in a narrow zone of few millimeters thick or even less inside the fault core. The size of this zone plays a major role in the energy budget of the system as it controls the feedback of the dissipative terms in the energy balance equation.Strain localization in narrow bands can be seen as a bifurcation from the homogeneous deformation solution of the underlying mathematical problem, and is favored by softening behavior. Here we model the shearing of a saturated fault gouge under various multi-physical couplings to investigate the influence of these coupled processes on the softening response. The major drawback of classical continuum theories is that they lead to infinitely narrow shear localized zone. This can be remedied by resorting to Cosserat continuum theory for which constitutive models contain a material length. Moreover, Cosserat models are appropriate for taking into account the granular microstructure of the fault gouge for which the Cosserat material length is naturally related to the grain size of the gouge. Thus, bifurcation analysis of the sheared layer includes the calculation of the evolution of the thickness of the localized zone.A numerical analysis including the effect of shear heating and pore fluid thermal pressurization is performed and the results of the bifurcation analysis are compared to field observations in terms of the localized zone thickness. At high temperature rise, thermally induced mineral transformation such as dehydration of clayey minerals or decomposition of carbonates can occur. The effect of these chemical reactions on the shear band thickness evolution is investigated and the numerical results are compared to observations of the Mt. Maggio fault located in the Northern Apennines of Italy.

The local effect of octreotide on mechanical pain sensitivity is more sensitive in DA rats than DA.1U rats.

PubMed

Yao, Fan-Rong; Wang, Hui-Sheng; Guo, Yuan; Zhao, Yan

2016-02-01

A recent study by the authors indicated that major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are associated with the differences in basal pain sensitivity and in formalin model between Dark-Agouti (DA) and novel congenic DA.1U rats, which have the same genetic background as DA rats except for the u alleles of MHC. The objective of the present study is to investigate whether there is a difference in the pristane-induced arthritis (PIA) model and local analgesic effect of octreotide (OCT) between DA and DA.1U rats. The hindpaw mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and heat withdrawal latency (HWL) were observed. The C unit firings of the tibial nerve evoked by non-noxious and noxious toe movements were recorded by electrophysiological methods in normal and PIA models in DA and DA.1U rats before and after local OCT administration. The expression of somatostatin receptor 2A (SSTR2A) was observed by immunohistochemistry. The results demonstrate that DA rats have a higher mechanical sensitivity than DA.1U rats after PIA. Local OCT administration significantly elevated MWT in DA rats under normal and PIA sate, but not in DA.1U rats. The electrophysiological experiments showed OCT significantly attenuated the firings of C units evoked by non-noxious and noxious stimulation in DA rats more than those in DA.1U rats both in normal and PIA states. In addition, the expression of SSTR2A in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord was significantly higher in DA than in DA.1U rats. All of the findings suggest a higher local analgesic effect of OCT in DA rats than DA.1U rats, which might be associated with the MHC genes. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Mapping air quality zones for coastal urban centers.

PubMed

Freeman, Brian; Gharabaghi, Bahram; Thé, Jesse; Munshed, Mohammad; Faisal, Shah; Abdullah, Meshal; Al Aseed, Athari

2017-05-01

This study presents a new method that incorporates modern air dispersion models allowing local terrain and land-sea breeze effects to be considered along with political and natural boundaries for more accurate mapping of air quality zones (AQZs) for coastal urban centers. This method uses local coastal wind patterns and key urban air pollution sources in each zone to more accurately calculate air pollutant concentration statistics. The new approach distributes virtual air pollution sources within each small grid cell of an area of interest and analyzes a puff dispersion model for a full year's worth of 1-hr prognostic weather data. The difference of wind patterns in coastal and inland areas creates significantly different skewness (S) and kurtosis (K) statistics for the annually averaged pollutant concentrations at ground level receptor points for each grid cell. Plotting the S-K data highlights grouping of sources predominantly impacted by coastal winds versus inland winds. The application of the new method is demonstrated through a case study for the nation of Kuwait by developing new AQZs to support local air management programs. The zone boundaries established by the S-K method were validated by comparing MM5 and WRF prognostic meteorological weather data used in the air dispersion modeling, a support vector machine classifier was trained to compare results with the graphical classification method, and final zones were compared with data collected from Earth observation satellites to confirm locations of high-exposure-risk areas. The resulting AQZs are more accurate and support efficient management strategies for air quality compliance targets effected by local coastal microclimates. A novel method to determine air quality zones in coastal urban areas is introduced using skewness (S) and kurtosis (K) statistics calculated from grid concentrations results of air dispersion models. The method identifies land-sea breeze effects that can be used to manage local air quality in areas of similar microclimates.

Cardiovascular cast model fabrication and casting effectiveness evaluation in fetus with severe congenital heart disease or normal heart.

PubMed

Wang, Yu; Cao, Hai-yan; Xie, Ming-xing; He, Lin; Han, Wei; Hong, Liu; Peng, Yuan; Hu, Yun-fei; Song, Ben-cai; Wang, Jing; Wang, Bin; Deng, Cheng

2016-04-01

To investigate the application and effectiveness of vascular corrosion technique in preparing fetal cardiovascular cast models, 10 normal fetal heart specimens with other congenital disease (control group) and 18 specimens with severe congenital heart disease (case group) from induced abortions were enrolled in this study from March 2013 to June 2015 in our hospital. Cast models were prepared by injecting casting material into vascular lumen to demonstrate real geometries of fetal cardiovascular system. Casting effectiveness was analyzed in terms of local anatomic structures and different anatomical levels (including overall level, atrioventricular and great vascular system, left-sided and right-sided heart), as well as different trimesters of pregnancy. In our study, all specimens were successfully casted. Casting effectiveness analysis of local anatomic structures showed a mean score from 1.90±1.45 to 3.60±0.52, without significant differences between case and control groups in most local anatomic structures except left ventricle, which had a higher score in control group (P=0.027). Inter-group comparison of casting effectiveness in different anatomical levels showed no significant differences between the two groups. Intra-group comparison also revealed undifferentiated casting effectiveness between atrioventricular and great vascular system, or left-sided and right-sided heart in corresponding group. Third-trimester group had a significantly higher perfusion score in great vascular system than second-trimester group (P=0.046), while the other anatomical levels displayed no such difference. Vascular corrosion technique can be successfully used in fabrication of fetal cardiovascular cast model. It is also a reliable method to demonstrate three-dimensional anatomy of severe congenital heart disease and normal heart in fetus.

Effects of Ignoring Item Interaction on Item Parameter Estimation and Detection of Interacting Items

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Cheng-Te; Wang, Wen-Chung

2007-01-01

This study explores the effects of ignoring item interaction on item parameter estimation and the efficiency of using the local dependence index Q[subscript 3] and the SAS NLMIXED procedure to detect item interaction under the three-parameter logistic model and the generalized partial credit model. Through simulations, it was found that ignoring…

Neuroprotective effect of lidocaine: is there clinical potential?

PubMed Central

Leng, Tiandong; Gao, Xiuren; Dilger, James P; Lin, Jun

2016-01-01

Local anesthetic lidocaine has been shown to be protective in animal models of focal and global ischemia as well as in in vitro hypoxic models. Lidocaine has been tested in patients for its potential protective effect on postoperative cognitive dysfunction. This mini-review summarizes the laboratory and clinical evidences and discusses its clinical applications as neuroprotective agent. PMID:27186318

Modeling the effects of urban vegetation on air pollution

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Patrick J. McHale; Myriam Ibarra; Daniel Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Chris J. Luley

1998-01-01

Urban vegetation can directly and indirectly affect local and regional air quality by altering the urban atmospheric environment. Trees affect local air temperature by transpiring water through their leaves, by blocking solar radiation (tree shade), which reduces radiation absorption and heat storage by various anthropogenic surfaces (e.g., buildings, roads), and by...

Project-Based Community Participatory Action Research Using Geographic Information Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Minsung

2018-01-01

The paper investigates the effects of a project-based community participation course in which students chose research topics relevant to a local community. Specifically, the students undertook the following projects: (1) creating a virtual 3D model of a local government office, (2) creating interactive digitized versions of mountain trails using…

Robust kernel representation with statistical local features for face recognition.

PubMed

Yang, Meng; Zhang, Lei; Shiu, Simon Chi-Keung; Zhang, David

2013-06-01

Factors such as misalignment, pose variation, and occlusion make robust face recognition a difficult problem. It is known that statistical features such as local binary pattern are effective for local feature extraction, whereas the recently proposed sparse or collaborative representation-based classification has shown interesting results in robust face recognition. In this paper, we propose a novel robust kernel representation model with statistical local features (SLF) for robust face recognition. Initially, multipartition max pooling is used to enhance the invariance of SLF to image registration error. Then, a kernel-based representation model is proposed to fully exploit the discrimination information embedded in the SLF, and robust regression is adopted to effectively handle the occlusion in face images. Extensive experiments are conducted on benchmark face databases, including extended Yale B, AR (A. Martinez and R. Benavente), multiple pose, illumination, and expression (multi-PIE), facial recognition technology (FERET), face recognition grand challenge (FRGC), and labeled faces in the wild (LFW), which have different variations of lighting, expression, pose, and occlusions, demonstrating the promising performance of the proposed method.

Interpretation of the MEG-MUSIC scan in biomagnetic source localization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mosher, J.C.; Lewis, P.S.; Leahy, R.M.

1993-09-01

MEG-Music is a new approach to MEG source localization. MEG-Music is based on a spatio-temporal source model in which the observed biomagnetic fields are generated by a small number of current dipole sources with fixed positions/orientations and varying strengths. From the spatial covariance matrix of the observed fields, a signal subspace can be identified. The rank of this subspace is equal to the number of elemental sources present. This signal sub-space is used in a projection metric that scans the three dimensional head volume. Given a perfect signal subspace estimate and a perfect forward model, the metric will peak atmore » unity at each dipole location. In practice, the signal subspace estimate is contaminated by noise, which in turn yields MUSIC peaks which are less than unity. Previously we examined the lower bounds on localization error, independent of the choice of localization procedure. In this paper, we analyzed the effects of noise and temporal coherence on the signal subspace estimate and the resulting effects on the MEG-MUSIC peaks.« less

Local government alcohol policy development: case studies in three New Zealand communities

PubMed Central

Maclennan, Brett; Kypri, Kypros; Room, Robin; Langley, John

2013-01-01

Aims Local alcohol policies can be effective in reducing alcohol-related harm. The aim of this study was to examine local government responses to alcohol-related problems and identify factors influencing their development and adoption of alcohol policy. Designsettings and participants Case studies were used to examine local government responses to alcohol problems in three New Zealand communities: a rural town, a provincial city and a metropolitan city. Newspaper reports, local government documents and key informant interviews were used to collect data which were analysed using two conceptual frameworks: Kingdon's Streams model and the Stakeholder model of policy development. Measurements Key informant narratives were categorized according to the concepts of the Streams and Stakeholder models. Findings Kingdon's theoretical concepts associated with increased likelihood of policy change seemed to apply in the rural and metropolitan communities. The political environment in the provincial city, however, was not favourable to the adoption of alcohol restrictions. The Stakeholder model highlighted differences between the communities in terms of power over agenda-setting and conflict between politicians and bureaucrats over policy solutions to alcohol-related harm. These differences were reflected in the ratio of policies considered versus adopted in each location. Decisions on local alcohol policies lie ultimately with local politicians, although the policies that can be adopted by local government are restricted by central government legislation. Conclusions The adoption of policies and strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm may be better facilitated by an agenda-setting process where no ‘gate-keepers’ determine what is included into the agenda, and community mobilization efforts to create competitive local government elections around alcohol issues. Policy adoption would also be facilitated by more enabling central government legislation. PMID:23130762

Localization in a random XY model with long-range interactions: Intermediate case between single-particle and many-body problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burin, Alexander L.

2015-09-01

Many-body localization in an XY model with a long-range interaction is investigated. We show that in the regime of a high strength of disordering compared to the interaction an off-resonant flip-flop spin-spin interaction (hopping) generates the effective Ising interactions of spins in the third order of perturbation theory in a hopping. The combination of hopping and induced Ising interactions for the power-law distance dependent hopping V (R ) ∝R-α always leads to the localization breakdown in a thermodynamic limit of an infinite system at α <3 d /2 where d is a system dimension. The delocalization takes place due to the induced Ising interactions U (R ) ∝R-2 α of "extended" resonant pairs. This prediction is consistent with the numerical finite size scaling in one-dimensional systems. Many-body localization in an XY model is more stable with respect to the long-range interaction compared to a many-body problem with similar Ising and Heisenberg interactions requiring α ≥2 d which makes the practical implementations of this model more attractive for quantum information applications. The full summary of dimension constraints and localization threshold size dependencies for many-body localization in the case of combined Ising and hopping interactions is obtained using this and previous work and it is the subject for the future experimental verification using cold atomic systems.

Effects of large-scale deforestation on precipitation in the monsoon regions: remote versus local effects.

PubMed

Devaraju, N; Bala, Govindasamy; Modak, Angshuman

2015-03-17

In this paper, using idealized climate model simulations, we investigate the biogeophysical effects of large-scale deforestation on monsoon regions. We find that the remote forcing from large-scale deforestation in the northern middle and high latitudes shifts the Intertropical Convergence Zone southward. This results in a significant decrease in precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere monsoon regions (East Asia, North America, North Africa, and South Asia) and moderate precipitation increases in the Southern Hemisphere monsoon regions (South Africa, South America, and Australia). The magnitude of the monsoonal precipitation changes depends on the location of deforestation, with remote effects showing a larger influence than local effects. The South Asian Monsoon region is affected the most, with 18% decline in precipitation over India. Our results indicate that any comprehensive assessment of afforestation/reforestation as climate change mitigation strategies should carefully evaluate the remote effects on monsoonal precipitation alongside the large local impacts on temperatures.

Coupled 2D-3D finite element method for analysis of a skin panel with a discontinuous stiffener

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, J. T.; Lotts, C. G.; Davis, D. D., Jr.; Krishnamurthy, T.

1992-01-01

This paper describes a computationally efficient analysis method which was used to predict detailed stress states in a typical composite compression panel with a discontinuous hat stiffener. A global-local approach was used. The global model incorporated both 2D shell and 3D brick elements connected by newly developed transition elements. Most of the panel was modeled with 2D elements, while 3D elements were employed to model the stiffener flange and the adjacent skin. Both linear and geometrically nonlinear analyses were performed on the global model. The effect of geometric nonlinearity induced by the eccentric load path due to the discontinuous hat stiffener was significant. The local model used a fine mesh of 3D brick elements to model the region at the end of the stiffener. Boundary conditions of the local 3D model were obtained by spline interpolation of the nodal displacements from the global analysis. Detailed in-plane and through-the-thickness stresses were calculated in the flange-skin interface near the end of the stiffener.

A model of plasma current through a hole of Rogowski probe including sheath effects

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Furui, H., E-mail: furui@fusion.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Ejiri, A.; Takase, Y.

2016-04-15

In TST-2 Ohmic discharges, local current is measured using a Rogowski probe by changing the angle between the local magnetic field and the direction of the hole of the Rogowski probe. The angular dependence shows a peak when the direction of the hole is almost parallel to the local magnetic field. The obtained width of the peak was broader than that of the theoretical curve expected from the probe geometry. In order to explain this disagreement, we consider the effect of sheath in the vicinity of the Rogowski probe. A sheath model was constructed and electron orbits were numerically calculated.more » From the calculation, it was found that the electron orbit is affected by E × B drift due to the sheath electric field. Such orbit causes the broadening of the peak in the angular dependence and the dependence agrees with the experimental results. The dependence of the broadening on various plasma parameters was studied numerically and explained qualitatively by a simplified analytical model.« less

Localization and diffusion of tracer particles in viscoelastic media with active force dipoles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yasuda, Kento; Okamoto, Ryuichi; Komura, Shigeyuki; Mikhailov, Alexander S.

2017-02-01

Optical tracking in vivo experiments reveal that diffusion of particles in biological cells is strongly enhanced in the presence of ATP and the experimental data for animal cells could previously be reproduced within a phenomenological model of a gel with myosin motors acting within it (Fodor É. et al., EPL, 110 (2015) 48005). Here, the two-fluid model of a gel is considered where active macromolecules, described as force dipoles, cyclically operate both in the elastic and the fluid components. Through coarse-graining, effective equations of motions for idealized tracer particles displaying local deformations and local fluid flows are derived. The equation for deformation tracers coincides with the earlier phenomenological model and thus confirms it. For flow tracers, diffusion enhancement caused by active force dipoles in the fluid component, and thus due to metabolic activity, is found. The latter effect may explain why ATP-dependent diffusion enhancement could also be observed in bacteria that lack molecular motors in their skeleton or when the activity of myosin motors was chemically inhibited in eukaryotic cells.

Local factors modify the dose dependence of 56Fe-induced atherosclerosis.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kucik, Dennis; Gupta, Kiran; Wu, Xing; Yu, Tao; Chang, Polly; Kabarowski, Janusz; Yu, Shaohua

2012-07-01

Radiation exposure from a number of terrestrial sources is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but evidence establishing whether high-LET radiation has similar effects has been lacking. We recently demonstrated that 600 MeV/n 56Fe induces atherosclerosis as well. Ten-week old male apolipoprotein-E deficient mice, a well-characterized atherosclerosis animal model, were exposed to 0 (control) 2, or 5Gy 56Fe targeted to the chest and neck. In these mice, 56Fe-induced atherosclerosis was similar in character to that induced by X-rays in the same mouse model and to that resulting from therapeutic radiation in cancer patients. Atherosclerosis was exacerbated by 56Fe only in targeted areas, however, suggesting a direct effect of the radiation on the arteries themselves. This is in contrast to some other risk factors, such as high cholesterol or tobacco use, which have systemic effects. The radiation dose required to accelerate development of atherosclerotic plaques, however, differed depending on the vessel that was irradiated and even the location within the vessel. For example, atherosclerosis in the aortic arch was accelerated only by the highest dose (5 Gy), while the carotid arteries and the aortic root showed effects at 2 Gy (a dose four- to eight-fold lower than the dose of X-rays that produces similar effects in this model). Since shear stress is disrupted in the area of the aortic root, it is likely that at least part of the site-specificity is due to additive or synergistic effects of radiation and local hydrodynamics. Other factors, such as local oxidative stress or gene expression may also have been involved. Since the pro-atherogenic effects of 56Fe depend on additional local factors, this suggests that radiation exposure, when unavoidable, might be mitigated by modification of factors unrelated to the radiation itself.

Empirical Estimation of Local Dielectric Constants: Toward Atomistic Design of Collagen Mimetic Peptides

PubMed Central

Pike, Douglas H.; Nanda, Vikas

2017-01-01

One of the key challenges in modeling protein energetics is the treatment of solvent interactions. This is particularly important in the case of peptides, where much of the molecule is highly exposed to solvent due to its small size. In this study, we develop an empirical method for estimating the local dielectric constant based on an additive model of atomic polarizabilities. Calculated values match reported apparent dielectric constants for a series of Staphylococcus aureus nuclease mutants. Calculated constants are used to determine screening effects on Coulombic interactions and to determine solvation contributions based on a modified Generalized Born model. These terms are incorporated into the protein modeling platform protCAD, and benchmarked on a data set of collagen mimetic peptides for which experimentally determined stabilities are available. Computing local dielectric constants using atomistic protein models and the assumption of additive atomic polarizabilities is a rapid and potentially useful method for improving electrostatics and solvation calculations that can be applied in the computational design of peptides. PMID:25784456

Spatial effects in real networks: Measures, null models, and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruzzenenti, Franco; Picciolo, Francesco; Basosi, Riccardo; Garlaschelli, Diego

2012-12-01

Spatially embedded networks are shaped by a combination of purely topological (space-independent) and space-dependent formation rules. While it is quite easy to artificially generate networks where the relative importance of these two factors can be varied arbitrarily, it is much more difficult to disentangle these two architectural effects in real networks. Here we propose a solution to this problem, by introducing global and local measures of spatial effects that, through a comparison with adequate null models, effectively filter out the spurious contribution of nonspatial constraints. Our filtering allows us to consistently compare different embedded networks or different historical snapshots of the same network. As a challenging application we analyze the World Trade Web, whose topology is known to depend on geographic distances but is also strongly determined by nonspatial constraints (degree sequence or gross domestic product). Remarkably, we are able to detect weak but significant spatial effects both locally and globally in the network, showing that our method succeeds in retrieving spatial information even when nonspatial factors dominate. We finally relate our results to the economic literature on gravity models and trade globalization.

High-field magnetoconductance in Anderson insulators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vaknin, A.; Frydman, A.; Ovadyahu, Z.

1996-11-01

We report on high-field magnetoconductance measurements made on indium-oxide films as a function of temperature and static disorder. Special emphasis is given to the strong-localization regime where the magnetoconductance reveals a negative contribution associated with a spin-alignment mechanism in addition to the positive contribution associated with orbital, quantum-coherence effects. While the overall features of the theoretically expected effects are observed in our experiments, they depart in certain ways from the detailed predictions. We discuss the merits and shortcomings of current models to describe them, in particular, as they apply to the regime where the localized wave functions become larger thanmore » the Bohr radius. The main results of this paper are both quantum interference and spin effects contribute to the magnetoconductance throughout the entire range studied. In the limit of very strong disorder, the quantum interference effects are faithfully described by the Nguyen {ital et} {ital al}. model. The spin effects, on the other hand, show only qualitative agreement with current models which are unable to account for the saturation field being insensitive to changes in disorder. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}« less

A Big Data Approach for Situation-Aware estimation, correction and prediction of aerosol effects, based on MODIS Joint Atmosphere product (collection 6) time series data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, A. K.; Toshniwal, D.

2017-12-01

The MODIS Joint Atmosphere product, MODATML2 and MYDATML2 L2/3 provided by LAADS DAAC (Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive & Distribution System Distributed Active Archive Center) re-sampled from medium resolution MODIS Terra /Aqua Satellites data at 5km scale, contains Cloud Reflectance, Cloud Top Temperature, Water Vapor, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Humidity data. These re-sampled data, when used for deriving climatic effects of aerosols (particularly in case of cooling effect) still exposes limitations in presence of uncertainty measures in atmospheric artifacts such as aerosol, cloud, cirrus cloud etc. The effect of uncertainty measures in these artifacts imposes an important challenge for estimation of aerosol effects, adequately affecting precise regional weather modeling and predictions: Forecasting and recommendation applications developed largely depend on these short-term local conditions (e.g. City/Locality based recommendations to citizens/farmers based on local weather models). Our approach inculcates artificial intelligence technique for representing heterogeneous data(satellite data along with air quality data from local weather stations (i.e. in situ data)) to learn, correct and predict aerosol effects in the presence of cloud and other atmospheric artifacts, defusing Spatio-temporal correlations and regressions. The Big Data process pipeline consisting correlation and regression techniques developed on Apache Spark platform can easily scale for large data sets including many tiles (scenes) and over widened time-scale. Keywords: Climatic Effects of Aerosols, Situation-Aware, Big Data, Apache Spark, MODIS Terra /Aqua, Time Series

On the impact of topography and building mask on time varying gravity due to local hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deville, S.; Jacob, T.; Chéry, J.; Champollion, C.

2013-01-01

We use 3 yr of surface absolute gravity measurements at three sites on the Larzac plateau (France) to quantify the changes induced by topography and the building on gravity time-series, with respect to an idealized infinite slab approximation. Indeed, local topography and buildings housing ground-based gravity measurement have an effect on the distribution of water storage changes, therefore affecting the associated gravity signal. We first calculate the effects of surrounding topography and building dimensions on the gravity attraction for a uniform layer of water. We show that a gravimetric interpretation of water storage change using an infinite slab, the so-called Bouguer approximation, is generally not suitable. We propose to split the time varying gravity signal in two parts (1) a surface component including topographic and building effects (2) a deep component associated to underground water transfer. A reservoir modelling scheme is herein presented to remove the local site effects and to invert for the effective hydrological properties of the unsaturated zone. We show that effective time constants associated to water transfer vary greatly from site to site. We propose that our modelling scheme can be used to correct for the local site effects on gravity at any site presenting a departure from a flat topography. Depending on sites, the corrected signal can exceed measured values by 5-15 μGal, corresponding to 120-380 mm of water using the Bouguer slab formula. Our approach only requires the knowledge of daily precipitation corrected for evapotranspiration. Therefore, it can be a useful tool to correct any kind of gravimetric time-series data.

DMI's Baltic Sea Coastal operational forecasting system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murawski, Jens; Berg, Per; Weismann Poulsen, Jacob

2017-04-01

Operational forecasting is challenged with bridging the gap between the large scales of the driving weather systems and the local, human scales of the model applications. The limit of what can be represented by local model has been continuously shifted to higher and higher spatial resolution, with the aim to better resolve the local dynamic and to make it possible to describe processes that could only be parameterised in older versions, with the ultimate goal to improve the quality of the forecast. Current hardware trends demand a str onger focus on the development of efficient, highly parallelised software and require a refactoring of the code with a solid focus on portable performance. The gained performance can be used for running high resolution model with a larger coverage. Together with the development of efficient two-way nesting routines, this has made it possible to approach the near-coastal zone with model applications that can run in a time effective way. Denmarks Meteorological Institute uses the HBM(1) ocean circulation model for applications that covers the entire Baltic Sea and North Sea with an integrated model set-up that spans the range of horizontal resolution from 1nm for the entire Baltic Sea to approx. 200m resolution in local fjords (Limfjord). For the next model generation, the high resolution set-ups are going to be extended and new high resolution domains in coastal zones are either implemented or tested for operational use. For the first time it will be possible to cover large stretches of the Baltic coastal zone with sufficiently high resolution to model the local hydrodynamic adequately. (1) HBM stands for HIROMB-BOOS-Model, whereas HIROMB stands for "High Resolution Model for the Baltic Sea" and BOOS stands for "Baltic Operational Oceanography System".

Micro Finite Element models of the vertebral body: Validation of local displacement predictions.

PubMed

Costa, Maria Cristiana; Tozzi, Gianluca; Cristofolini, Luca; Danesi, Valentina; Viceconti, Marco; Dall'Ara, Enrico

2017-01-01

The estimation of local and structural mechanical properties of bones with micro Finite Element (microFE) models based on Micro Computed Tomography images depends on the quality bone geometry is captured, reconstructed and modelled. The aim of this study was to validate microFE models predictions of local displacements for vertebral bodies and to evaluate the effect of the elastic tissue modulus on model's predictions of axial forces. Four porcine thoracic vertebrae were axially compressed in situ, in a step-wise fashion and scanned at approximately 39μm resolution in preloaded and loaded conditions. A global digital volume correlation (DVC) approach was used to compute the full-field displacements. Homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic microFE models were generated with boundary conditions assigned from the interpolated displacement field measured from the DVC. Measured and predicted local displacements were compared for the cortical and trabecular compartments in the middle of the specimens. Models were run with two different tissue moduli defined from microindentation data (12.0GPa) and a back-calculation procedure (4.6GPa). The predicted sum of axial reaction forces was compared to the experimental values for each specimen. MicroFE models predicted more than 87% of the variation in the displacement measurements (R2 = 0.87-0.99). However, model predictions of axial forces were largely overestimated (80-369%) for a tissue modulus of 12.0GPa, whereas differences in the range 10-80% were found for a back-calculated tissue modulus. The specimen with the lowest density showed a large number of elements strained beyond yield and the highest predictive errors. This study shows that the simplest microFE models can accurately predict quantitatively the local displacements and qualitatively the strain distribution within the vertebral body, independently from the considered bone types.

Cross-scale assessment of potential habitat shifts in a rapidly changing climate

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Holcombe, Tracy R.; Bella, Elizabeth S.; Carlson, Matthew L.; Graziano, Gino; Lamb, Melinda; Seefeldt, Steven S.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

We assessed the ability of climatic, environmental, and anthropogenic variables to predict areas of high-risk for plant invasion and consider the relative importance and contribution of these predictor variables by considering two spatial scales in a region of rapidly changing climate. We created predictive distribution models, using Maxent, for three highly invasive plant species (Canada thistle, white sweetclover, and reed canarygrass) in Alaska at both a regional scale and a local scale. Regional scale models encompassed southern coastal Alaska and were developed from topographic and climatic data at a 2 km (1.2 mi) spatial resolution. Models were applied to future climate (2030). Local scale models were spatially nested within the regional area; these models incorporated physiographic and anthropogenic variables at a 30 m (98.4 ft) resolution. Regional and local models performed well (AUC values > 0.7), with the exception of one species at each spatial scale. Regional models predict an increase in area of suitable habitat for all species by 2030 with a general shift to higher elevation areas; however, the distribution of each species was driven by different climate and topographical variables. In contrast local models indicate that distance to right-of-ways and elevation are associated with habitat suitability for all three species at this spatial level. Combining results from regional models, capturing long-term distribution, and local models, capturing near-term establishment and distribution, offers a new and effective tool for highlighting at-risk areas and provides insight on how variables acting at different scales contribute to suitability predictions. The combinations also provides easy comparison, highlighting agreement between the two scales, where long-term distribution factors predict suitability while near-term do not and vice versa.

The local heat transfer mathematical model between vibrated fluidized beds and horizontal tubes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Xuejun; College of Biology and Chemical Engineering, Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 617000; Ye, Shichao

2008-05-15

A dimensionless mathematical model is proposed to predict the local heat transfer coefficients between vibrated fluidized beds and immersed horizontal tubes, and the effects of the thickness of gas film and the contact time of particle packets are well considered. Experiments using the glass beads (the average diameter bar d{sub p}=1.83mm) were conducted in a two-dimensional vibrated fluidized bed (240 mm x 80 mm). The local heat transfer law between vibrated fluidized bed and horizontal tube surface has been investigated. The results show that the values of theoretical prediction are in good agreement with experimental data, so the model ismore » able to predict the local heat transfer coefficients between vibrated fluidized beds and immersed horizontal tubes reasonably well, and the error is in range of {+-}15%. The results can provide references for future designing and researching on the vibrated fluidized beds with immersed horizontal tubes. (author)« less

From global to local: exploring the relationship between parameters and behaviors in models of electrical excitability.

PubMed

Fletcher, Patrick; Bertram, Richard; Tabak, Joel

2016-06-01

Models of electrical activity in excitable cells involve nonlinear interactions between many ionic currents. Changing parameters in these models can produce a variety of activity patterns with sometimes unexpected effects. Further more, introducing new currents will have different effects depending on the initial parameter set. In this study we combined global sampling of parameter space and local analysis of representative parameter sets in a pituitary cell model to understand the effects of adding K (+) conductances, which mediate some effects of hormone action on these cells. Global sampling ensured that the effects of introducing K (+) conductances were captured across a wide variety of contexts of model parameters. For each type of K (+) conductance we determined the types of behavioral transition that it evoked. Some transitions were counterintuitive, and may have been missed without the use of global sampling. In general, the wide range of transitions that occurred when the same current was applied to the model cell at different locations in parameter space highlight the challenge of making accurate model predictions in light of cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Finally, we used bifurcation analysis and fast/slow analysis to investigate why specific transitions occur in representative individual models. This approach relies on the use of a graphics processing unit (GPU) to quickly map parameter space to model behavior and identify parameter sets for further analysis. Acceleration with modern low-cost GPUs is particularly well suited to exploring the moderate-sized (5-20) parameter spaces of excitable cell and signaling models.

Time-local equation for exact time-dependent optimized effective potential in time-dependent density functional theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Sheng-Lun; Ho, Tak-San; Rabitz, Herschel; Chu, Shih-I.

2017-04-01

Solving and analyzing the exact time-dependent optimized effective potential (TDOEP) integral equation has been a longstanding challenge due to its highly nonlinear and nonlocal nature. To meet the challenge, we derive an exact time-local TDOEP equation that admits a unique real-time solution in terms of time-dependent Kohn-Sham orbitals and effective memory orbitals. For illustration, the dipole evolution dynamics of a one-dimension-model chain of hydrogen atoms is numerically evaluated and examined to demonstrate the utility of the proposed time-local formulation. Importantly, it is shown that the zero-force theorem, violated by the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation, is fulfilled in the current TDOEP framework. This work was partially supported by DOE.

Localization and delocalization of a one-dimensional system coupled with the environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hong-Jun; Xiong, Shi-Jie

2010-03-01

We investigate several models of a one-dimensional chain coupling with surrounding atoms to elucidate disorder-induced delocalization in quantum wires, a peculiar behaviour against common wisdom. We show that the localization length is enhanced by disorder of side sites in the case of strong disorder, but in the case of weak disorder there is a plateau in this dependence. The above behaviour is the conjunct influence of the coupling to the surrounding atoms and the antiresonant effect. We also discuss different effects and their physical origin of different types of disorder in such systems. The numerical results show that coupling with the surrounding atoms can induce either the localization or delocalization effect depending on the values of parameters.

Analytical modeling and tolerance analysis of a linear variable filter for spectral order sorting.

PubMed

Ko, Cheng-Hao; Chang, Kuei-Ying; Huang, You-Min

2015-02-23

This paper proposes an innovative method to overcome the low production rate of current linear variable filter (LVF) fabrication. During the fabrication process, a commercial coater is combined with a local mask on a substrate. The proposed analytical thin film thickness model, which is based on the geometry of the commercial coater, is developed to more effectively calculate the profiles of LVFs. Thickness tolerance, LVF zone width, thin film layer structure, transmission spectrum and the effects of variations in critical parameters of the coater are analyzed. Profile measurements demonstrate the efficacy of local mask theory in the prediction of evaporation profiles with a high degree of accuracy.

Local rectification of heat flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pons, M.; Cui, Y. Y.; Ruschhaupt, A.; Simón, M. A.; Muga, J. G.

2017-09-01

We present a chain-of-atoms model where heat is rectified, with different fluxes from the hot to the cold baths located at the chain boundaries when the temperature bias is reversed. The chain is homogeneous except for boundary effects and a local modification of the interactions at one site, the “impurity”. The rectification mechanism is due here to the localized impurity, the only asymmetrical element of the structure, apart from the externally imposed temperature bias, and does not rely on putting in contact different materials or other known mechanisms such as grading or long-range interactions. The effect survives if all interaction forces are linear except the ones for the impurity.

Interconnecting heterogeneous database management systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gligor, V. D.; Luckenbaugh, G. L.

1984-01-01

It is pointed out that there is still a great need for the development of improved communication between remote, heterogeneous database management systems (DBMS). Problems regarding the effective communication between distributed DBMSs are primarily related to significant differences between local data managers, local data models and representations, and local transaction managers. A system of interconnected DBMSs which exhibit such differences is called a network of distributed, heterogeneous DBMSs. In order to achieve effective interconnection of remote, heterogeneous DBMSs, the users must have uniform, integrated access to the different DBMs. The present investigation is mainly concerned with an analysis of the existing approaches to interconnecting heterogeneous DBMSs, taking into account four experimental DBMS projects.

Constitutive Modeling of Nanotube-Reinforced Polymer Composites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Odegard, G. M.; Gates, T. S.; Wise, K. E.; Park, C.; Siochi, E. J.; Bushnell, Dennis M. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In this study, a technique is presented for developing constitutive models for polymer composite systems reinforced with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). Because the polymer molecules are on the same size scale as the nanotubes, the interaction at the polymer/nanotube interface is highly dependent on the local molecular structure and bonding. At these small length scales, the lattice structures of the nanotube and polymer chains cannot be considered continuous, and the bulk mechanical properties can no longer be determined through traditional micromechanical approaches that are formulated by using continuum mechanics. It is proposed herein that the nanotube, the local polymer near the nanotube, and the nanotube/polymer interface can be modeled as an effective continuum fiber using an equivalent-continuum modeling method. The effective fiber serves as a means for incorporating micromechanical analyses for the prediction of bulk mechanical properties of SWNT/polymer composites with various nanotube lengths, concentrations, and orientations. As an example, the proposed approach is used for the constitutive modeling of two SWNT/polyimide composite systems.

Generalized non-local surface susceptibility model and Fresnel coefficients for the characterization of periodic metafilms with bianisotropic scatterers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dimitriadis, Alexandros I., E-mail: aldimitr@ee.auth.gr; Kantartzis, Nikolaos V., E-mail: kant@auth.gr; Tsiboukis, Theodoros D., E-mail: tsibukis@auth.gr

2015-01-15

Highlights: •Formulas for E/M fields radiated by continuous surface polarization distributions. •Non-local effective surface susceptibility model for periodic metafilms. •Generalized reflection and transmission coefficients for an arbitrary metafilm. •Successful treatment of non-planar scatterer arrays and spatial dispersion effects. -- Abstract: A non-local surface susceptibility model for the consistent description of periodic metafilms formed by arbitrarily-shaped, electrically-small, bianisotropic scatterers is developed in this paper. The rigorous scheme is based on the point-dipole approximation technique and is valid for any polarization and propagation direction of an electromagnetic wave impinging upon the metafilm, unlike existing approaches whose applicability is practically confined to verymore » specific cases of incidence. Next, the universal form of the resulting surface susceptibility matrix is employed for the derivation of the generalized Fresnel coefficients for such surfaces, which enable the comprehensive interpretation of several significant, yet relatively unexamined, physical interactions. Essentially, these coefficients include eight distinct terms, corresponding to the co-polarized and cross-polarized reflection and transmission coefficients for the two orthogonal eigenpolarizations of a linearly-polarized incident plane wave. The above formulas are, then, utilized for the prediction of the scattering properties of metafilms with different planar and non-planar resonators, which are characterized via the featured model and two previously reported local ones. Their comparison with numerical simulation outcomes substantiates the merits of the proposed method, reveals important aspects of the underlying physics, and highlights the differences between the various modeling procedures.« less

Modeling and simulation framework for dynamic strain localization in elasto-viscoplastic metallic materials subject to large deformations

DOE PAGES

Mourad, Hashem Mourad; Bronkhorst, Curt Allan; Livescu, Veronica; ...

2016-09-23

This study describes a theoretical and computational framework for the treatment of adiabatic shear band formation in rate-sensitive polycrystalline metallic materials. From a computational perspective, accurate representation of strain localization behavior has been a long-standing challenge. In addition, the underlying physical mechanisms leading to the localization of plastic deformation are still not fully understood. The proposed framework is built around an enhanced-strain finite element formulation, designed to alleviate numerical pathologies known to arise in localization problems, by allowing a localization band of given finite width (weak discontinuity) to be embedded within individual elements. The mechanical threshold strength (MTS) model ismore » used to represent the temperature and strain rate-dependent viscoplastic response of the material. This classical flow stress model employs an internal state variable to quantify the effect of dislocation structure evolution (work hardening and recovery). In light of growing evidence suggesting that the softening effect of dynamic recrystallization may play a significant role, alongside thermal softening, in the process of shear band formation and growth, a simple dynamic recrystallization model is proposed and cast within the context of the MTS model with the aid of the aforementioned internal state variable. An initiation criterion for shear localization in rate and temperature-sensitive materials is introduced and used in the present context of high-rate loading, where material rate-dependence is pronounced and substantial temperature increases are achieved due to the dissipative nature of viscoplastic processes. In addition, explicit time integration is adopted to facilitate treatment of the dynamic problems under consideration, where strain rates in excess of 10 4 s –1 are typically attained. Two series of experiments are conducted on AISI 316L stainless steel, employing the commonly used top-hat sample geometry and the Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar dynamic test system. Axi-symmetric finite element simulation results are compared to cross-sectional micrographs of recovered samples and experimental load–displacement results, in order to examine the performance of the proposed framework and demonstrate its effectiveness in treating the initiation and growth of adiabatic shear banding in dynamically loaded metallic materials. These comparisons demonstrate that thermal softening alone is insufficient to induce shear localization behaviors observed in some materials, such as stainless steel, and support the hypothesis that dynamic recrystallization and/or other softening mechanisms play an essential role in this process.« less

Are we living near the center of a local void?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cusin, Giulia; Pitrou, Cyril; Uzan, Jean-Philippe, E-mail: giulia.cusin@unige.ch, E-mail: pitrou@iap.fr, E-mail: uzan@iap.fr

The properties of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarisation anisotropies measured by a static, off-centered observer located in a local spherically symmetric void, are described. In particular in this paper we compute, together with the standard 2-point angular correlation functions, the off-diagonal correlators, which are no more vanishing by symmetry. While the energy shift induced by the off-centered position of the observer can be suppressed by a proper choice of the observer velocity, a lensing-like effect on the CMB emission point remains. This latter effect is genuinely geometrical (e.g. non-degenerate with a boost) and reflects in the structuremore » of the off-diagonal correlators. At lowest order in this effect, the temperature and polarisation correlation matrices have non-vanishing diagonal elements, as usual, and all the off-diagonal terms are excited. This particular signature of a local void model allows one, in principle, to disentangle geometrical effects from local kinematical ones in CMB observations.« less

Can a void mimic the Λ in ΛCDM?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sundell, Peter; Vilja, Iiro; Mörtsell, Edvard, E-mail: pgsund@utu.fi, E-mail: edvard@fysik.su.se, E-mail: iiro.vilja@utu.fi

2015-08-01

We investigate Lemaítre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) models, whose early time evolution and bang time are homogeneous and the distance-redshift relation and local Hubble parameter are inherited from the ΛCDM model. We show that the obtained LTB models and the ΛCDM model predict different relative local expansion rates and that the Hubble functions of the models diverge increasingly with redshift. The LTB models show tension between low redshift baryon acoustic oscillation and supernova observations and including Lyman-α forest or cosmic microwave background observations only accentuates the better fit of the ΛCDM model compared to the LTB model. The result indicates that additional degreesmore » of freedom are needed to explain the observations, for example by renouncing spherical symmetry, homogeneous bang time, negligible effects of pressure, or the early time homogeneity assumption.« less

Designing an Agent-Based Model Using Group Model Building: Application to Food Insecurity Patterns in a U.S. Midwestern Metropolitan City.

PubMed

Koh, Keumseok; Reno, Rebecca; Hyder, Ayaz

2018-04-01

Recent advances in computing resources have increased interest in systems modeling and population health. While group model building (GMB) has been effectively applied in developing system dynamics models (SD), few studies have used GMB for developing an agent-based model (ABM). This article explores the use of a GMB approach to develop an ABM focused on food insecurity. In our GMB workshops, we modified a set of the standard GMB scripts to develop and validate an ABM in collaboration with local experts and stakeholders. Based on this experience, we learned that GMB is a useful collaborative modeling platform for modelers and community experts to address local population health issues. We also provide suggestions for increasing the use of the GMB approach to develop rigorous, useful, and validated ABMs.

A Systematic Review of the Modifying Effect of Anaesthetic Drugs on Metastasis in Animal Models for Cancer

PubMed Central

Geessink, Florentine J.; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel; Scheffer, Gert Jan

2016-01-01

Background Distant metastasis or local recurrence after primary tumour resection remain a major clinical problem. The anaesthetic technique used during oncologic surgery is suggested to influence the metastatic process. While awaiting the results of ongoing randomised controlled trials (RCTs), we have analyzed the evidence regarding the influence of anaesthetic drugs on experimental tumour metastasis in animal studies. Methods PubMed and Embase were searched until April 21st, 2015. Studies were included in the systematic review when they 1) assessed the effect of an anaesthetic drug used in clinical practice on the number or incidence of metastasis in animal models with experimental cancer, 2) included an appropriate control group, and 3) presented unique data. Results 20 studies met the inclusion criteria (published between 1958–2010). Data on number of metastases could be retrieved from 17 studies. These studies described 41 independent comparisons, 33 of which could be included in the meta-analysis (MA). The incidence of metastases was studied in 3 unique papers. From these 3 papers, data on 7 independent comparisons could be extracted and included in the MA. Locally administered local anaesthetics appear to decrease the number of metastases (SMD -6.15 [-8.42; -3.88]), whereas general anaesthetics (RD: 0.136 [0.045, 0.226]), and more specifically volatile anaesthetics (SMD 0.54 [0.24; 0.84]), appear to increase the number and risk of metastases in animal models for cancer. Conclusions Anaesthetics influence the number and incidence of metastases in experimental cancer models. Although more high quality experimental research is necessary, based on the currently available evidence from animal studies, there is no indication to suggest that locally administered local anaesthetics are harmful during surgery in cancer patients. Volatile anaesthetics, however, might increase metastasis in animal models and clinical trials investigating this possibly harmful effect should receive priority. The results of our systematic review in animal studies are broadly consistent with clinical reports that anaesthetic technique does seem to affect the tumour metastasis process. PMID:27227779

Impacts of future climate change on urban flood volumes in Hohhot in northern China: benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Qianqian; Leng, Guoyong; Huang, Maoyi

2018-01-01

As China becomes increasingly urbanised, flooding has become a regular occurrence in its major cities. Assessing the effects of future climate change on urban flood volumes is crucial to informing better management of such disasters given the severity of the devastating impacts of flooding (e.g. the 2016 flooding events across China). Although recent studies have investigated the impacts of future climate change on urban flooding, the effects of both climate change mitigation and adaptation have rarely been accounted for together in a consistent framework. In this study, we assess the benefits of mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and locally adapting to climate change by modifying drainage systems to reduce urban flooding under various climate change scenarios through a case study conducted in northern China. The urban drainage model - Storm Water Management Model - was used to simulate urban flood volumes using current and two adapted drainage systems (i.e. pipe enlargement and low-impact development, LID), driven by bias-corrected meteorological forcing from five general circulation models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 archive. Results indicate that urban flood volume is projected to increase by 52 % over 2020-2040 compared to the volume in 1971-2000 under the business-as-usual scenario (i.e. Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5). The magnitudes of urban flood volumes are found to increase nonlinearly with changes in precipitation intensity. On average, the projected flood volume under RCP 2.6 is 13 % less than that under RCP 8.5, demonstrating the benefits of global-scale climate change mitigation efforts in reducing local urban flood volumes. Comparison of reduced flood volumes between climate change mitigation and local adaptation (by improving drainage systems) scenarios suggests that local adaptation is more effective than climate change mitigation in reducing future flood volumes. This has broad implications for the research community relative to drainage system design and modelling in a changing environment. This study highlights the importance of accounting for local adaptation when coping with future urban floods.

Impacts of future climate change on urban flood volumes in Hohhot in northern China: benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptations

DOE PAGES

Zhou, Qianqian; Leng, Guoyong; Huang, Maoyi

2018-01-15

As China becomes increasingly urbanised, flooding has become a regular occurrence in its major cities. Assessing the effects of future climate change on urban flood volumes is crucial to informing better management of such disasters given the severity of the devastating impacts of flooding (e.g. the 2016 flooding events across China). Although recent studies have investigated the impacts of future climate change on urban flooding, the effects of both climate change mitigation and adaptation have rarely been accounted for together in a consistent framework. In this study, we assess the benefits of mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)more » emissions and locally adapting to climate change by modifying drainage systems to reduce urban flooding under various climate change scenarios through a case study conducted in northern China. The urban drainage model – Storm Water Management Model – was used to simulate urban flood volumes using current and two adapted drainage systems (i.e. pipe enlargement and low-impact development, LID), driven by bias-corrected meteorological forcing from five general circulation models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 archive. Results indicate that urban flood volume is projected to increase by 52 % over 2020–2040 compared to the volume in 1971–2000 under the business-as-usual scenario (i.e. Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5). The magnitudes of urban flood volumes are found to increase nonlinearly with changes in precipitation intensity. On average, the projected flood volume under RCP 2.6 is 13 % less than that under RCP 8.5, demonstrating the benefits of global-scale climate change mitigation efforts in reducing local urban flood volumes. Comparison of reduced flood volumes between climate change mitigation and local adaptation (by improving drainage systems) scenarios suggests that local adaptation is more effective than climate change mitigation in reducing future flood volumes. This has broad implications for the research community relative to drainage system design and modelling in a changing environment. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of accounting for local adaptation when coping with future urban floods.« less

Impacts of future climate change on urban flood volumes in Hohhot in northern China: benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Qianqian; Leng, Guoyong; Huang, Maoyi

As China becomes increasingly urbanised, flooding has become a regular occurrence in its major cities. Assessing the effects of future climate change on urban flood volumes is crucial to informing better management of such disasters given the severity of the devastating impacts of flooding (e.g. the 2016 flooding events across China). Although recent studies have investigated the impacts of future climate change on urban flooding, the effects of both climate change mitigation and adaptation have rarely been accounted for together in a consistent framework. In this study, we assess the benefits of mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)more » emissions and locally adapting to climate change by modifying drainage systems to reduce urban flooding under various climate change scenarios through a case study conducted in northern China. The urban drainage model – Storm Water Management Model – was used to simulate urban flood volumes using current and two adapted drainage systems (i.e. pipe enlargement and low-impact development, LID), driven by bias-corrected meteorological forcing from five general circulation models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 archive. Results indicate that urban flood volume is projected to increase by 52 % over 2020–2040 compared to the volume in 1971–2000 under the business-as-usual scenario (i.e. Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5). The magnitudes of urban flood volumes are found to increase nonlinearly with changes in precipitation intensity. On average, the projected flood volume under RCP 2.6 is 13 % less than that under RCP 8.5, demonstrating the benefits of global-scale climate change mitigation efforts in reducing local urban flood volumes. Comparison of reduced flood volumes between climate change mitigation and local adaptation (by improving drainage systems) scenarios suggests that local adaptation is more effective than climate change mitigation in reducing future flood volumes. This has broad implications for the research community relative to drainage system design and modelling in a changing environment. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of accounting for local adaptation when coping with future urban floods.« less

Localization of small arms fire using acoustic measurements of muzzle blast and/or ballistic shock wave arrivals.

PubMed

Lo, Kam W; Ferguson, Brian G

2012-11-01

The accurate localization of small arms fire using fixed acoustic sensors is considered. First, the conventional wavefront-curvature passive ranging method, which requires only differential time-of-arrival (DTOA) measurements of the muzzle blast wave to estimate the source position, is modified to account for sensor positions that are not strictly collinear (bowed array). Second, an existing single-sensor-node ballistic model-based localization method, which requires both DTOA and differential angle-of-arrival (DAOA) measurements of the muzzle blast wave and ballistic shock wave, is improved by replacing the basic external ballistics model (which describes the bullet's deceleration along its trajectory) with a more rigorous model and replacing the look-up table ranging procedure with a nonlinear (or polynomial) equation-based ranging procedure. Third, a new multiple-sensor-node ballistic model-based localization method, which requires only DTOA measurements of the ballistic shock wave to localize the point of fire, is formulated. The first method is applicable to situations when only the muzzle blast wave is received, whereas the third method applies when only the ballistic shock wave is received. The effectiveness of each of these methods is verified using an extensive set of real data recorded during a 7 day field experiment.

Equivalent charge source model based iterative maximum neighbor weight for sparse EEG source localization.

PubMed

Xu, Peng; Tian, Yin; Lei, Xu; Hu, Xiao; Yao, Dezhong

2008-12-01

How to localize the neural electric activities within brain effectively and precisely from the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings is a critical issue for current study in clinical neurology and cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, based on the charge source model and the iterative re-weighted strategy, proposed is a new maximum neighbor weight based iterative sparse source imaging method, termed as CMOSS (Charge source model based Maximum neighbOr weight Sparse Solution). Different from the weight used in focal underdetermined system solver (FOCUSS) where the weight for each point in the discrete solution space is independently updated in iterations, the new designed weight for each point in each iteration is determined by the source solution of the last iteration at both the point and its neighbors. Using such a new weight, the next iteration may have a bigger chance to rectify the local source location bias existed in the previous iteration solution. The simulation studies with comparison to FOCUSS and LORETA for various source configurations were conducted on a realistic 3-shell head model, and the results confirmed the validation of CMOSS for sparse EEG source localization. Finally, CMOSS was applied to localize sources elicited in a visual stimuli experiment, and the result was consistent with those source areas involved in visual processing reported in previous studies.

Predictability of weather and climate in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model: A dynamical systems approach. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nese, Jon M.

1989-01-01

A dynamical systems approach is used to quantify the instantaneous and time-averaged predictability of a low-order moist general circulation model. Specifically, the effects on predictability of incorporating an active ocean circulation, implementing annual solar forcing, and asynchronously coupling the ocean and atmosphere are evaluated. The predictability and structure of the model attractors is compared using the Lyapunov exponents, the local divergence rates, and the correlation, fractal, and Lyapunov dimensions. The Lyapunov exponents measure the average rate of growth of small perturbations on an attractor, while the local divergence rates quantify phase-spatial variations of predictability. These local rates are exploited to efficiently identify and distinguish subtle differences in predictability among attractors. In addition, the predictability of monthly averaged and yearly averaged states is investigated by using attractor reconstruction techniques.

Implantable magnetic nanocomposites for the localized treatment of breast cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kan-Dapaah, Kwabena; Rahbar, Nima; Soboyejo, Wole

2014-12-01

This paper explores the potential of implantable magnetic nanocomposites for the localized treatment of breast cancer via hyperthermia. Magnetite (Fe3O4)-reinforced polydimethylsiloxane composites were fabricated and characterized to determine their structural, magnetic, and thermal properties. The thermal properties and degree of optimization were shown to be strongly dependent on material properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The in-vivo temperature profiles and thermal doses were investigated by the use of a 3D finite element method (FEM) model to simulate the heating of breast tissue. Heat generation was calculated using the linear response theory model. The 3D FEM model was used to investigate the effects of MNP volume fraction, nanocomposite geometry, and treatment parameters on thermal profiles. The implications of the results were then discussed for the development of implantable devices for the localized treatment of breast cancer.

Methodology for extracting local constants from petroleum cracking flows

DOEpatents

Chang, Shen-Lin; Lottes, Steven A.; Zhou, Chenn Q.

2000-01-01

A methodology provides for the extraction of local chemical kinetic model constants for use in a reacting flow computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer code with chemical kinetic computations to optimize the operating conditions or design of the system, including retrofit design improvements to existing systems. The coupled CFD and kinetic computer code are used in combination with data obtained from a matrix of experimental tests to extract the kinetic constants. Local fluid dynamic effects are implicitly included in the extracted local kinetic constants for each particular application system to which the methodology is applied. The extracted local kinetic model constants work well over a fairly broad range of operating conditions for specific and complex reaction sets in specific and complex reactor systems. While disclosed in terms of use in a Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) riser, the inventive methodology has application in virtually any reaction set to extract constants for any particular application and reaction set formulation. The methodology includes the step of: (1) selecting the test data sets for various conditions; (2) establishing the general trend of the parametric effect on the measured product yields; (3) calculating product yields for the selected test conditions using coupled computational fluid dynamics and chemical kinetics; (4) adjusting the local kinetic constants to match calculated product yields with experimental data; and (5) validating the determined set of local kinetic constants by comparing the calculated results with experimental data from additional test runs at different operating conditions.

Blocking the mineralocorticoid receptor improves effectiveness of steroid treatment for low back pain in rats

PubMed Central

Ye, Ling; Xie, Wenrui; Strong, Judith A.; Zhang, Jun-Ming

2014-01-01

Background Localized inflammation of lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRG) may contribute to low back pain. Local injections of corticosteroids used for low back pain are sometimes ineffective. Many corticosteroids activate not only the target glucocorticoid receptor (GR) but also the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), which may have pro-inflammatory effects countering the effects of GR activation. Methods A low back pain model was implemented in rats (n = 6 -10 per group) by locally inflaming the L5 DRG. Sensory neuron excitability and mechanical hypersensitivity of the hind paws were measured. Tested steroids were applied locally to the inflamed DRG or orally. Results The selective MR blocker eplerenone reduced pain behaviors when given orally starting at the time of surgery, or starting 7 days later. The highly GR-selective agonist fluticasone, applied locally to the inflamed DRG, was much more effective in reducing mechanical hypersensitivity. The MR/GR agonist 6-α methylprednisolone, commonly injected for low back pain, reduced mechanical hypersensitivity when applied locally to the DRG, but was less effective than fluticasone. Its effectiveness was improved by combining it with local eplerenone. All tested steroids reduced hyperexcitability of myelinated sensory neurons (n = 71 – 220 cells per group) after inflammation, particularly abnormal spontaneous activity. Conclusions This preclinical study indicates the MR may play an important role in low back pain involving inflammation. Some MR effects may occur at the level of the sensory neuron. It may be useful to consider the action of clinically used steroids at the MR as well as at the GR. PMID:24781496

Isochronal annealing effects on local structure, crystalline fraction, and undamaged region size of radiation damage in Ga-stabilized δ-Pu

DOE PAGES

Olive, D. T.; Booth, C. H.; Wang, D. L.; ...

2016-07-19

The effects on the local structure due to self-irradiation damage of Ga stabilized δ-Pu stored at cryogenic temperatures have been examined using extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) experiments. Extensive damage, seen as a loss of local order, was evident after 72 days of storage below 15 K. The effect was observed from both the Pu and the Ga sites, although less pronounced around Ga. Isochronal annealing was performed on this sample to study the annealing processes that occur between cryogenic and room temperature storage conditions, where damage is mostly reversed. Damage fractions at various points along the annealing curvemore » have been determined using an amplitude-ratio method, a standard EXAFS fitting, and a spherical crystallite model, and provide information complementary to the previous electrical resistivity- and susceptibility-based isochronal annealing studies. The use of a spherical crystallite model accounts for the changes in EXAFS spectra using just two parameters, namely, the crystalline fraction and the particle radius. Altogether, these results are discussed in terms of changes to the local structure around Ga and Pu throughout the annealing process and highlight the unusual role of Ga in the behavior of the lowest temperature anneals.« less

Enhanced vibronic interaction caused by local lattice symmetry lowering in the (Fe, Mg)As2 ternary system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pishtshev, A.; Rubin, P.

2018-04-01

By means of periodic density functional theory (DFT) electronic structure calculations, we investigate iron-site doping effects in a structural model of bulk FeAs2. Simulations performed within the projector augmented-wave method-Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functional scheme reveal that the impacts of the two stoichiometric substitutions Fe → Mg and Fe → Ni are radically different with respect to the structural and electronic behavior of the dopants. In particular, unlike the Ni dopant, the Mg dopant incorporated in FeAs2 occupies a noncentral equilibrium position characterized by an off-center displacement from the reference higher-symmetry position. Analysis of the respective electron and vibrational factors allows us to explain this result in terms of the local pseudo Jahn-Teller effect (pJTE). On the basis of DFT calculations, we deduce which electron orbitals and lattice vibrational modes are appropriate for promoting the local instability at the origin of the pJTE. Quantitative evaluations of the pJTE parameters performed within the polyatomic formalism of an effective tight-binding model show that it is just the enhanced vibronic interaction in the Mg-[FeAs6] cluster that is responsible for the local lattice symmetry breaking.

Isochronal annealing effects on local structure, crystalline fraction, and undamaged region size of radiation damage in Ga-stabilized δ-Pu

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Olive, D. T.; Materials Science and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545; Wang, D. L.

2016-07-21

The effects on the local structure due to self-irradiation damage of Ga stabilized δ-Pu stored at cryogenic temperatures have been examined using extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) experiments. Extensive damage, seen as a loss of local order, was evident after 72 days of storage below 15 K. The effect was observed from both the Pu and the Ga sites, although less pronounced around Ga. Isochronal annealing was performed on this sample to study the annealing processes that occur between cryogenic and room temperature storage conditions, where damage is mostly reversed. Damage fractions at various points along the annealing curve havemore » been determined using an amplitude-ratio method, a standard EXAFS fitting, and a spherical crystallite model, and provide information complementary to the previous electrical resistivity- and susceptibility-based isochronal annealing studies. The use of a spherical crystallite model accounts for the changes in EXAFS spectra using just two parameters, namely, the crystalline fraction and the particle radius. Together, these results are discussed in terms of changes to the local structure around Ga and Pu throughout the annealing process and highlight the unusual role of Ga in the behavior of the lowest temperature anneals.« less

Effects of non-local electron transport in one-dimensional and two-dimensional simulations of shock-ignited inertial confinement fusion targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marocchino, A.; Atzeni, S.; Schiavi, A.

2014-01-01

In some regions of a laser driven inertial fusion target, the electron mean-free path can become comparable to or even longer than the electron temperature gradient scale-length. This can be particularly important in shock-ignited (SI) targets, where the laser-spike heated corona reaches temperatures of several keV. In this case, thermal conduction cannot be described by a simple local conductivity model and a Fick's law. Fluid codes usually employ flux-limited conduction models, which preserve causality, but lose important features of the thermal flow. A more accurate thermal flow modeling requires convolution-like non-local operators. In order to improve the simulation of SI targets, the non-local electron transport operator proposed by Schurtz-Nicolaï-Busquet [G. P. Schurtz et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 4238 (2000)] has been implemented in the DUED fluid code. Both one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) simulations of SI targets have been performed. 1D simulations of the ablation phase highlight that while the shock profile and timing might be mocked up with a flux-limiter; the electron temperature profiles exhibit a relatively different behavior with no major effects on the final gain. The spike, instead, can only roughly be reproduced with a fixed flux-limiter value. 1D target gain is however unaffected, provided some minor tuning of laser pulses. 2D simulations show that the use of a non-local thermal conduction model does not affect the robustness to mispositioning of targets driven by quasi-uniform laser irradiation. 2D simulations performed with only two final polar intense spikes yield encouraging results and support further studies.

The role of envelope shape in the localization of multiple sound sources and echoes in the barn owl

PubMed Central

Baxter, Caitlin S.; Takahashi, Terry T.

2013-01-01

Echoes and sounds of independent origin often obscure sounds of interest, but echoes can go undetected under natural listening conditions, a perception called the precedence effect. How does the auditory system distinguish between echoes and independent sources? To investigate, we presented two broadband noises to barn owls (Tyto alba) while varying the similarity of the sounds' envelopes. The carriers of the noises were identical except for a 2- or 3-ms delay. Their onsets and offsets were also synchronized. In owls, sound localization is guided by neural activity on a topographic map of auditory space. When there are two sources concomitantly emitting sounds with overlapping amplitude spectra, space map neurons discharge when the stimulus in their receptive field is louder than the one outside it and when the averaged amplitudes of both sounds are rising. A model incorporating these features calculated the strengths of the two sources' representations on the map (B. S. Nelson and T. T. Takahashi; Neuron 67: 643–655, 2010). The target localized by the owls could be predicted from the model's output. The model also explained why the echo is not localized at short delays: when envelopes are similar, peaks in the leading sound mask corresponding peaks in the echo, weakening the echo's space map representation. When the envelopes are dissimilar, there are few or no corresponding peaks, and the owl localizes whichever source is predicted by the model to be less masked. Thus the precedence effect in the owl is a by-product of a mechanism for representing multiple sound sources on its map. PMID:23175801

Tight-Binding Study of Polarons in Two-Dimensional Systems: Implications for Organic Field-Effect Transistor Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Jie

2011-03-01

In order to understand the electronic and transport properties of organic field-effect transistor (FET) materials, we theoretically studied the polarons in two-dimensional systems using a tight-binding model with the Holstein type and Su--Schrieffer--Heeger type electron--lattice couplings. By numerical calculations, it was found that a carrier accepts four kinds of localization, which are named the point polaron, two-dimensional polaron, one-dimensional polaron, and the extended state. The degree of localization is sensitive to the following parameters in the model: the strength and type of electron--lattice couplings, and the signs and relative magnitudes of transfer integrals. When a parameter set for a single-crystal phase of pentacene is applied within the Holstein model, a considerably delocalized hole polaron is found, consistent with the bandlike transport mechanism.

CMS-Wave

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-27

a phase-averaged spectral wind-wave generation and transformation model and its interface in the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS). Ambrose...applications of the Boussinesq (BOUSS-2D) wave model that provides more rigorous calculations for design and performance optimization of integrated...navigation systems . Together these wave models provide reliable predictions on regional and local spatial domains and cost-effective engineering solutions

Estimation of effective brain connectivity with dual Kalman filter and EEG source localization methods.

PubMed

Rajabioun, Mehdi; Nasrabadi, Ali Motie; Shamsollahi, Mohammad Bagher

2017-09-01

Effective connectivity is one of the most important considerations in brain functional mapping via EEG. It demonstrates the effects of a particular active brain region on others. In this paper, a new method is proposed which is based on dual Kalman filter. In this method, firstly by using a brain active localization method (standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography) and applying it to EEG signal, active regions are extracted, and appropriate time model (multivariate autoregressive model) is fitted to extracted brain active sources for evaluating the activity and time dependence between sources. Then, dual Kalman filter is used to estimate model parameters or effective connectivity between active regions. The advantage of this method is the estimation of different brain parts activity simultaneously with the calculation of effective connectivity between active regions. By combining dual Kalman filter with brain source localization methods, in addition to the connectivity estimation between parts, source activity is updated during the time. The proposed method performance has been evaluated firstly by applying it to simulated EEG signals with interacting connectivity simulation between active parts. Noisy simulated signals with different signal to noise ratios are used for evaluating method sensitivity to noise and comparing proposed method performance with other methods. Then the method is applied to real signals and the estimation error during a sweeping window is calculated. By comparing proposed method results in different simulation (simulated and real signals), proposed method gives acceptable results with least mean square error in noisy or real conditions.

Open-ocean boundary conditions from interior data: Local and remote forcing of Massachusetts Bay

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bogden, P.S.; Malanotte-Rizzoli, P.; Signell, R.

1996-01-01

Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays form a semienclosed coastal basin that opens onto the much larger Gulf of Maine. Subtidal circulation in the bay is driven by local winds and remotely driven flows from the gulf. The local-wind forced flow is estimated with a regional shallow water model driven by wind measurements. The model uses a gravity wave radiation condition along the open-ocean boundary. Results compare reasonably well with observed currents near the coast. In some offshore regions however, modeled flows are an order of magnitude less energetic than the data. Strong flows are observed even during periods of weak local wind forcing. Poor model-data comparisons are attributable, at least in part, to open-ocean boundary conditions that neglect the effects of remote forcing. Velocity measurements from within Massachusetts Bay are used to estimate the remotely forced component of the flow. The data are combined with shallow water dynamics in an inverse-model formulation that follows the theory of Bennett and McIntosh [1982], who considered tides. We extend their analysis to consider the subtidal response to transient forcing. The inverse model adjusts the a priori open-ocean boundary condition, thereby minimizing a combined measure of model-data misfit and boundary condition adjustment. A "consistency criterion" determines the optimal trade-off between the two. The criterion is based on a measure of plausibility for the inverse solution. The "consistent" inverse solution reproduces 56% of the average squared variation in the data. The local-wind-driven flow alone accounts for half of the model skill. The other half is attributable to remotely forced flows from the Gulf of Maine. The unexplained 44% comes from measurement errors and model errors that are not accounted for in the analysis. 

Evolution of spatially structured host-parasite interactions.

PubMed

Lion, S; Gandon, S

2015-01-01

Spatial structure has dramatic effects on the demography and the evolution of species. A large variety of theoretical models have attempted to understand how local dispersal may shape the coevolution of interacting species such as host-parasite interactions. The lack of a unifying framework is a serious impediment for anyone willing to understand current theory. Here, we review previous theoretical studies in the light of a single epidemiological model that allows us to explore the effects of both host and parasite migration rates on the evolution and coevolution of various life-history traits. We discuss the impact of local dispersal on parasite virulence, various host defence strategies and local adaptation. Our analysis shows that evolutionary and coevolutionary outcomes crucially depend on the details of the host-parasite life cycle and on which life-history trait is involved in the interaction. We also discuss experimental studies that support the effects of spatial structure on the evolution of host-parasite interactions. This review highlights major similarities between some theoretical results, but it also reveals an important gap between evolutionary and coevolutionary models. We discuss possible ways to bridge this gap within a more unified framework that would reconcile spatial epidemiology, evolution and coevolution. © 2014 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2014 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Hesheng, E-mail: hesheng@umich.edu; Feng, Mary; Jackson, Andrew

Purpose: To develop a local and global function model in the liver based on regional and organ function measurements to support individualized adaptive radiation therapy (RT). Methods and Materials: A local and global model for liver function was developed to include both functional volume and the effect of functional variation of subunits. Adopting the assumption of parallel architecture in the liver, the global function was composed of a sum of local function probabilities of subunits, varying between 0 and 1. The model was fit to 59 datasets of liver regional and organ function measures from 23 patients obtained before, during, andmore » 1 month after RT. The local function probabilities of subunits were modeled by a sigmoid function in relating to MRI-derived portal venous perfusion values. The global function was fitted to a logarithm of an indocyanine green retention rate at 15 minutes (an overall liver function measure). Cross-validation was performed by leave-m-out tests. The model was further evaluated by fitting to the data divided according to whether the patients had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or not. Results: The liver function model showed that (1) a perfusion value of 68.6 mL/(100 g · min) yielded a local function probability of 0.5; (2) the probability reached 0.9 at a perfusion value of 98 mL/(100 g · min); and (3) at a probability of 0.03 [corresponding perfusion of 38 mL/(100 g · min)] or lower, the contribution to global function was lost. Cross-validations showed that the model parameters were stable. The model fitted to the data from the patients with HCC indicated that the same amount of portal venous perfusion was translated into less local function probability than in the patients with non-HCC tumors. Conclusions: The developed liver function model could provide a means to better assess individual and regional dose-responses of hepatic functions, and provide guidance for individualized treatment planning of RT.« less

Islands Climatology at Local Scale. Downscaling with CIELO model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azevedo, Eduardo; Reis, Francisco; Tomé, Ricardo; Rodrigues, Conceição

2016-04-01

Islands with horizontal scales of the order of tens of km, as is the case of the Atlantic Islands of Macaronesia, are subscale orographic features for Global Climate Models (GCMs) since the horizontal scales of these models are too coarse to give a detailed representation of the islands' topography. Even the Regional Climate Models (RCMs) reveals limitations when they are forced to reproduce the climate of small islands mainly by the way they flat and lowers the elevation of the islands, reducing the capacity of the model to reproduce important local mechanisms that lead to a very deep local climate differentiation. Important local thermodynamics mechanisms like Foehn effect, or the influence of topography on radiation balance, have a prominent role in the climatic spatial differentiation. Advective transport of air - and the consequent induced adiabatic cooling due to orography - lead to transformations of the state parameters of the air that leads to the spatial configuration of the fields of pressure, temperature and humidity. The same mechanism is in the origin of the orographic clouds cover that, besides the direct role as water source by the reinforcement of precipitation, act like a filter to direct solar radiation and as a source of long-wave radiation that affect the local balance of energy. Also, the saturation (or near saturation) conditions that they provide constitute a barrier to water vapour diffusion in the mechanisms of evapotranspiration. Topographic factors like slope, aspect and orographic mask have also significant importance in the local energy balance. Therefore, the simulation of the local scale climate (past, present and future) in these archipelagos requires the use of downscaling techniques to adjust locally outputs obtained at upper scales. This presentation will discuss and analyse the evolution of the CIELO model (acronym for Clima Insular à Escala LOcal) a statistical/dynamical technique developed at the University of the Azores, which has been improved since its original version, constituting currently a downscaling tool widely applied with success in different islands of Macaronesia. Recently the CIELO model has been tested against data from the Eastern North Atlantic (ENA), Graciosa Island ARM facility programme (established and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy with the collaboration of the local government and the University of the Azores).

Teaching a Model-based Climatology Using Energy Balance Simulation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unwin, David

1981-01-01

After outlining the difficulties of teaching climatology within an undergraduate geography curriculum, the author describes and evaluates the use of a computer assisted simulation to model surface energy balance and the effects of land use changes on local climate. (AM)

Coral Mortality and Bleaching Output

EPA Science Inventory

COMBO is a spreadsheet-based model for the use of managers, conservationists, and biologists for projecting the effects of climate change on coral reefs at local-to-regional scales. The COMBO (Coral Mortality and Bleaching Output) model calculates the impacts to coral reefs from...

Real fuel effects on flame extinction and re-ignition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xinyu; Wu, Bifen; Xu, Chao; Lu, Tianfeng; Chen, Jacqueline H.

2016-11-01

Flame-vortex interactions have significant implications in studying combustion in practical aeronautical engines, and can be used to facilitate the model development in capturing local extinction and re-ignition. To study the interactions between the complex fuel and the intense turbulence that are commonly encountered in engines, direct numerical simulations of the interactions between a flame and a vortex pair are carried out using a recently-developed 24-species reduced chemistry for n-dodecane. Both non-premixed and premixed flames with different initial and inlet thermochemical conditions are studied. Parametric studies of different vortex strengths and orientations are carried out to induce maximum local extinction and re-ignition. Chemical-explosive-mode-analysis based flame diagnostic tools are used to identify different modes of combustion, including auto-ignition and extinction. Results obtained from the reduced chemistry are compared with those obtained from one-step chemistry to quantify the effect of fuel pyrolysis on the extinction limit. Effects of flame curvature, heat loss and unsteadiness on flame extinction are also explored. Finally, the validity of current turbulent combustion models to capture the local extinction and re-ignition will be discussed.

Contribution of capsaicin-sensitive primary afferents to mechanical hyperalgesia induced by ventral root transection in rats: the possible role of BDNF.

PubMed

Li, Wei; Wang, Jian-Xiu; Zhou, Zhong-He; Lu, Yao; Li, Xiao-Qiu; Liu, Bao-Jun; Chen, Hui-Sheng

2016-01-01

A recent study showed that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may play a role in the development of the neuropathic pain resulting from injury to motor efferent fibres, such as that in the ventral root transection (VRT) model. Capsaicin stimulation of afferent fibres was also shown to result in the release of BDNF into the spinal cord. Here, the effects of ablation of capsaicin-sensitive primary afferents (CSPAs) by local application of capsaicin on the sciatic nerve on VRT-induced mechanical hyperalgesia were observed. The paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) was measured before and then 1 and 3 days and 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 weeks after VRT. The results showed that local application of capsaicin significantly inhibited the decrease in the PWMT induced by VRT, suggesting the inhibitory effect of locally delivered capsaicin. Furthermore, intrathecal administration of exogenous BDNF not only produced mechanical hyperalgesia but also significantly blocked the inhibitory effect of capsaicin. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that CSPA fibres may contribute to mechanical hyperalgesia in the VRT model.

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: Cosmological branes and macroscopic extra dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barvinsky, Andrei O.

2005-06-01

The idea of adding extra dimensions to the physical world — thus making the observable universe a timelike surface (or brane) embedded in a higher-dimensional space-time — is briefly reviewed, which is believed to hold serious promise for solving fundamental problems concerning the hierarchy of physical interactions and the cosmological constant. Brane localization of massless gravitons is discussed as a mechanism leading to the effective four-dimensional Einstein gravity theory on the brane in the low-energy limit. It is shown that this mechanism is a corollary of the AdS/CFT correspondence principle well-known from string theory. Inflation and other cosmological evolution scenarios induced by the local and nonlocal structures of the effective action of the gravitational brane are considered, as are the effects that enable the developing gravitational-wave astronomy to be used in the search for extra dimensions. Finally, a new approach to the cosmological constant and cosmological acceleration problems is discussed, which involves variable local and nonlocal gravitational 'constants' arising in the infrared modifications of the Einstein theory that incorporate brane-induced gravity models and models of massive gravitons.

A spatial socio-ecosystem approach to analyse human-environment interactions on climate change adaptation for water resources management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giupponi, Carlo; Mojtahed, Vahid

2017-04-01

Global climate and socio-economic drivers determine the future patterns of the allocation and the trade of resources and commodities in all markets. The agricultural sector is an emblematic case in which natural (e.g. climate), social (e.g. demography) and economic (e.g. the market) drivers of change interact, determining the evolution of social and ecological systems (or simply socio-ecosystems; SES) over time. In order to analyse the dynamics and possible future evolutions of SES, the combination of local complex systems and global drivers and trends require the development of multiscale approaches. At global level, climatic general circulation models (CGM) and computable general equilibrium or partial equilibrium models have been used for many years to explore the effects of global trends and generate future climate and socio-economic scenarios. Al local level, the inherent complexity of SESs and their spatial and temporal variabilities require different modelling approaches of physical/environmental sub-systems (e.g. field scale crop modelling, GIS-based models, etc.) and of human agency decision makers (e.g. agent based models). Global and local models have different assumption, limitations, constrains, etc., but in some cases integration is possible and several attempts are in progress to couple different models within the so-called Integrated Assessment Models. This work explores an innovative proposal to integrate the global and local approaches, where agent-based models (ABM) are used to simulate spatial (i.e. grid-based) and temporal dynamics of land and water resource use spatial and temporal dynamics, under the effect of global drivers. We focus in particular on how global change may affect land-use allocation at the local to regional level, under the influence of limited natural resources, land and water in particular. We specifically explore how constrains and competition for natural resources may induce non-linearities and discontinuities in socio-ecosystems behaviour. Our general ambition is to explore the feasibility of an approach that could be implemented worldwide through the identification of representative cases described by means of spatially explicit integrated simulations in communication with global modelling. Our specific objective is to test how ABMs can support scenario analysis at regional scale, and in particular how this can facilitate understanding of the role of human agency and its behavioural characteristics in local to global dynamics. The SES of interest is the agro-ecosystem with its relationships with other land uses. In order to test the feasibility of application at global level, all the information about land uses, natural resources, local climate, crop potential productions, etc. were derived from freely available spatial data sets covering the whole planet, which provided the ABM model with spatial information as matrices of pixels. Input maps were extracted from the Global Agro-Ecological Zone (GAEZ) web site of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and compiled in the local GIS from where they were then converted in a format compatible with Matlab. In this initial application, an ABM prototype was developed in three test areas around the Mediterranean Basin, in agricultural regions of Tunisia, Italy and Spain.

CreativeDrought: An interdisciplinary approach to building resilience to drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rangecroft, Sally; Van Loon, Anne; Rohse, Melanie; Day, Rosie; Birkinshaw, Stephen; Makaya, Eugine

2017-04-01

Drought events cause severe water and food insecurities in many developing countries where resilience to natural hazards and change is low due to a number of reasons (including poverty, social and political inequality, and limited access to information). Furthermore, with climate change and increasing pressures from population and societal change, populations are expected to experience future droughts outside of their historic range. Integrated water resources management is an established tool combining natural science, engineering and management to help address drought and associated impacts. However, it often lacks a strong social and cultural aspect, leading to poor implementation on the ground. For a more holistic approach to building resilience to future drought, a stronger interdisciplinary approach is required which can incorporate the local cultural context and perspectives into drought and water management, and communicate information effectively to communities. In this pilot project 'CreativeDrought', we use a novel interdisciplinary approach aimed at building resilience to future drought in rural Africa by combining hydrological modelling with rich local information and engaging communicative approaches from social sciences. The work is conducted through a series of steps in which we i) engage with local rural communities to collect narratives on drought experiences; ii) generate hydrological modelling scenarios based on IPCC projections, existing data and the collected narratives; iii) feed these back to the local community to gather their responses to these scenarios; iv) iteratively adapt them to obtain hypothetical future drought scenarios; v) engage the community with the scenarios to formulate new future drought narratives; and vi) use this new data to enhance local water resource management. Here we present some of the indigenous knowledge gathered through narratives and the hydrological modelling scenarios for a rural community in Southern Africa. We use this local knowledge to develop the hypothetical future scenarios with a hydrological model (SHETRAN), with an iterative process to build trust in the tool. Through workshops, the communities can then use their own experiences, the modelling scenarios and climate analogies to experiment with stories about future drought events and possible effective ways of responding to them. This interdisciplinary approach allows the local community to extrapolate their narrated, experienced droughts from outside their historic range and into their projected range. These workshops will find innovative and effective ways to communicate science and information to the rural population. In this co-creation process of using creative experimentation based on narratives and scenario hydrological modelling, we develop new ways of adapting to drought and building resilience. This approach to increasing resilience is regarded as robust because it uses scientific methods, but is also culturally embedded and bottom-up.